Author's Note:
I am whimsically dedicating this chapter to a couple reviewers whom I just love for telling me what they really liked about chapter six instead of just telling me it was a great chapter. (I do appreciate the entire handful of you whom reviewed though!) Detailed reviews really help me as I sit about writing the next bit for you all.
Hope you enjoy! Love, MysticSong
Chapter Seven:
"You have to get rid of it, this book is evil!"
"It's my diary!"
"Diaries aren't supposed to talk back to you like this one does; not even magical ones! There's something wrong with this journal. We need to show it to Professor Flitwick or the Headmaster."
"But then they might learn my, our secrets. I can't give it to adults, I just can't."
"You've got to give it –"
"Who are you to tell me—"
"I thought I was your friend."
With this sullen, staccato sentence delivered nearly emotionless to her, the second girl bowed her head. "I'm sorry. You are my friend. I just . . . I don't want to get rid of the book, and more than that, I don't want to give it to the teachers."
The first girl extracted the journal from her friend and shrugged. Unceremoniously she shrank the book down a bit, dropped it into the water, and gave a good flush. The book swirled away into the cavernous plumbing of Hogwarts. "Books gone. Didn't involve the teachers. Can we go now? It's always chilly in here!"
Luna gave Ginny a watery smile. "Thanks. Yes, we'll go. We've got homework to finish."
"Will you help me with—"
"Don't I always?"
The girls smiled at one another, slipped out of the loo, and headed back to the Ravenclaw common room.
Neither heard the rush of water as the plumbing belched and the book ejected forcefully out of the toilet and onto the cold floor. An indignant screech followed: "I am not for target practice!"
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"You look distracted, Ron. What's up?" asked Hermione. The two were sitting on the sofa in their common room.
"Percy mentioned he thought Ginny seemed a bit upset lately. I feel kind of rotten that she's not in Gryffindor. I always thought I'd be able to look after my little sister once she started school. It's not so easy when she's in another House!"
Hermione patted Ron on the hand. "Well, that doesn't mean we can't go see how she is. Ravenclaw's are generally pretty nice."
"Nice toyou maybe, you're as smart as any of them. They just intimidate me."
Hermione flushed and laughed a bit at the same time. "Oh, Ron. You're smart too."
"Tell that to my Mum when she looks at my grades, would you?"
"You just need to study more; you'd do fine. A lot of things we learn can actually be deduced through logical reasoning. You've proven superb at logic through your chess skills. Perhaps you should look at your studies as a giant game of Wizard's chess?"
Ron's brow furrowed as he contemplated what his friend had suggested. It wasn't a bad idea. "Ta, Hermione. I'll give it a go. How about we go check on Ginny now?"
"Sure thing. Let me put my things away."
A few minutes later found Ron and Hermione exiting the Gryffindor common room and heading towards Ravenclaw Tower.
"Hello," she said kindly to the bronze knocker, shaped like the Eagle that represented the House of Ravenclaw.
The Eagle studied Hermione quizzically. "You are not a member of this House."
"That is true, but my friend's younger sister is one of your first years, and he wants to see how she is faring."
The Eagle fell silent for a few moments, and the door opened revealing Ginny. "Thank you," she murmured to the Eagle, who winked at the young girl and then reverted to still silence.
"Ron, Hermione, this is a surprise. What are you doing here?" she asked, pulling the door closed behind her, shielding the common room, protecting her Housemates' privacy.
Ron shrugged a bit. "Percy mentioned that he thought you weren't feeling well or that you were unhappy. But you know Percy, he gets all logical and severe on you when you try to ask him for details, so I don't really know what he was referring to so I thought I'd come see you myself."
"You were worried about me?"
"Of course!" Ron replied fervently, if a bit sheepishly, "You're the only sister I've got!"
Ginny smiled. "That's awfully sweet of you. Well, why don't we go somewhere more comfortable to talk?"
Ron and Hermione shrugged and nodded agreement to Ginny, who trotted off back the way her brother and friend had come. After a few minutes, Hermione realised Ginny was headed towards the Gryffindor common room. This made no sense, however, because if they were going to sit in someone's common room, Ravenclaw had certainly been closer. But Ginny wasn't headed where Hermione thought, and eventually stopped in a seemingly empty hallway.
Ginny seemed to wander aimlessly up and down the hall, murmuring to herself.
"Uh, Ginny?"
"Hush, Ronald!"
Ron looked at Hermione as if to say, 'What's up with her?' Hermione shrugged. She thought she had an inkling of what the younger girl was up to, but she wasn't positive.
Slowly, ever so slowly, a door appeared in the wall and Ginny relaxed. "Sorry Ron, but I needed to concentrate. Sometimes it's really hard to get the Room of Requirement to show itself. I hear it gets easier the older you are."
Pulling open the door, she waved Ron and Hermione in ahead of her, and then followed, pulling the door firmly shut behind her.
Ron's mouth dropped. The room was a replica of the kitchen at the Burrow. Warm and inviting, a place where the Weasley children always felt safe, knowing they could sit there and talk with their Mum, and not a word would be breathed to anyone.
"What is this place?"
Ginny grinned at Hermione. "You know, don't you? What it's all about?"
Hermione nodded. "I wasn't sure at first, but when you said 'Room of Requirement' to Ron, I was sure. Did you find it on your own?"
"Yup!"
"The Room of What?"
"It's great, Ron," Ginny explained, "it's a room that appears when you are in need of it, and it's decorated and stocked the way you want it to be. I ran into the Headmaster the first time I left this room, and he told me he had discovered it when he was…. in urgent need of the loo."
"Wicked…!"
"It is that. So, let's talk. What's up?"
"Well," said Ron slowly, "like I said earlier, Percy mentioned you looked rather upset, and he wasn't sure why. Since he's not the type to really talk about one's problems, I decided I would check on you – I always thought you'd be in Gryffindor where we could look out for each other, you know? – and I asked Hermione to come with me, in case . . . in case it was something you'd rather tell a girl instead of your brother."
Ginny smiled. "It's nice to see you're maturing, Ron. Just don't get like Percy!"
Ron pulled a face. "I'll never be like that prat."
Hermione groaned, but her eyes showed she wasn't truly annoyed. "Is there anything you wish to talk about, Ginny? I know you don't know me really well since we're not in the same House, but I've heard a lot about you from Ron, and it would be nice if we could be friends. I don't really get on with the girls in Gryffindor."
Ginny gave Hermione a wistful smile. "That would be nice. Luna's really my only friend, but from my family, I'm used to people telling it like it is. Luna tells it like it is too, but sometimes it's in a rather round-about fashion that's hard to follow. She's ever so smart, and when you think about what she's told you, you realize she's far more insightful than anyone her age should be, but, something happened, and I can't quite talk to her about it, because it is about her."
Ginny twisted her hands fretfully; unsure of how to explain the predicament her friend was experiencing.
"Do you have a crush on her, Ginny?" asked Hermione.
"What?!" exclaimed Ron.
"Wha-? Y-No, I don't think, that's not the problem anyhow," Ginny replied.
"Just asking, just asking!"
Ginny paused again, brows furrowed as she tried to find the right words. "Ron, do you remember the confrontation with Mr. Malfoy when we got out books?"
"Yeah, and Draco had to go along with it so his father wouldn't suspect anything."
Ginny nodded. "He put something in my cauldron."
"He what! That slimy bas—"
"Ronald!" exclaimed Hermione as she smacked him. "Language!"
"Hermione! Geroff! You sound like Mum!"
The peal of Ginny's laughter brightened the sombreness in the air.
"Well, anyhow, he did. A diary. I wasn't going to do anything with it, and Luna asked if she could have it. I didn't realize at the time where it came from, I thought Dad got it for me, and I didn't want it to go to waste. But after she started writing in it, I knew it wasn't from Dad. He wouldn't… well, anyhow, there's something wrong with it. Luna confided that the diary writes her back! Mum always told us not to trust something if you can't see what's making it tick. Luna's gotten really secretive and morose, which is really odd. Even when people steal her things, she's always cheerful. I think . . . I think that's why some people call her Loony Lovegood. I think it hurts her more than she lets on, although I'm not sure. She may not honestly care what people think of her. She's my friend though . . . the first friend I made here, someone who made me feel like I belonged in Ravenclaw . . . and I'm worried that the diary is evil."
"If it came from Malfoy, I sure bet it is evil," Ron replied. "I wonder if Draco knows anything about it. What's it look like?"
"It's just a plain black diary, leather bound. The pages are blank, but when you write in it, it writes back. It's really creepy. Sometimes after Luna writes in it for awhile, she'll sneak out of the common room, with sort of a glazed look on her face. One time she came back looking really scared though, and I confronted her. It was right after the . . . what happened to Mrs. Norris. We tried to get rid of the diary but it's unburnable, apparently. I ended up flushing it down the commode in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom."
"Bet Myrtle loved that," murmured Hermione dryly.
Ginny shrugged. "She wasn't there when we went in. Will you let me know if Draco knows anything?"
"Sure, Ginny," Ron replied affably. "Can anyone use this room, by the way?"
"Far as I know. You just have to be able to picture what you want really clearly, why?"
"I think this would be a good place for me and 'Mione to be able to meet with the Slytherins of our group without getting harassed by other Slytherins for it. The Gryffindors have been pretty cool, although I suspect it's because of Harry more than anything else, but having a place to come that Bulstrode and her followers couldn't find us in would be a relaxing change."
"That's a good idea, Ron. Say . . . you don't suppose you could re-introduce me to Harry, do you?"
"Crush on him?" Hermione teased.
"Uh, no. I just want to get to know him better. Maybe I could be re-introduced to everyone from the compartment on the train? There just aren't many interesting people in my year. Plus, I think Ravenclaws often get excluded because people assume we're all snobby with our noses stuck in books, and no sense of fun!"
Ron laughed. "Sure, Ginny, I'll ask the others. I'm sure they'd be happy to include you."
"Thanks Ron. I better get back, Luna'll wonder were I've gone off to; we've got an assignment to finish before tomorrow."
Ginny made Ron blush by giving him a hug, then she had slipped through the door and scampered off down the hall, back to Ravenclaw Tower.
Hermione and Ron headed back to Gryffindor Tower a moment later, after securing the location of the Room of Requirement in their minds.
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It wasn't until the end of the week that Ron got to speak to Draco about the diary. Unfortunately Draco didn't really have anything helpful to provide.
"My Father is the ultimate con artist, Ron. It's quite possible he dropped that diary in as a shrunken object that was timed to unshrink days later. I certainly had no idea he had anything with him. Also, he's got a lot of dark objects, many from Voldemort himself. There's no telling what's behind that diary. She could be writing to my Father for all I know, or . . . another Death Eater even."
Ron shuddered. "Well, she doesn't have it now, anyhow. Ginny made Luna give it up, and Ginny flushed it."
Draco laughed. "That's a new twist on getting rid of dark objects!"
As they drew closer to the Great Hall for lunch, they discovered a mass of students reading a poster in front of the massive doors.
"What's all this?" Draco wondered.
Ron, who was taller, moved closer, scanned the sign, and moved back to Draco.
"That fool, Lockhart, is starting a duelling club tomorrow. Want to go?"
"Yes, this I've got to see," laughed Draco. "I'll tell the others. Will Hermione come?"
"Are you kidding? It's an opportunity to learn something new, of course she'll go!"
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The next afternoon, hordes of students, perhaps the entire student body – there was no age restriction – gathered in the Great Hall (the tables had disappeared) for a lesson on duelling. Those under the 'tutelage', if one could call it that, of Lockhart, expected more entertainment than actual lesson.
Lockhart, with his usual gaudy swirl of robes and unfortunate personality full-on, leapt to the duelling platform with the air of a prince and the grace of a cow.
"Wonderful to see all your smiling faces today! Gather 'round, gather 'round, can everyone hear me? Can everyone see me?"
Lockhart failed to notice that many students were smiling out of amusement of him trying to teach anything.
"Now, children, Professor Snape has agreed to lead the duelling club with me and be my very own duelling partner! I do think he likes me, children, don't you?"
"If like means I want to cut your heart out with a spoon," murmured Hermione, taking in the look on Snape's face.
"What?" giggled Pansy.
"Line from a good Muggle film. One of the stars actually looks a fair bit like Professor Snape."
"Really? A shame we can't watch films here."
"Maybe I can figure out a way. That could be a neat project for Charms, to make Muggle technology work here. I think a number of students, particularly you, Harry, Blaise, and Draco, would enjoy the films of Alan Rickman. He's the one that looks like your Head of House."
"Wicked!" exclaimed Blaise, overhearing the conversation. "Definitely go for that project, Hermione!"
"Speaking of Wicked, there's this neat book that's sort of a prelude to The Wizard of Oz, a wonderful Muggle story. It'd make a great musical…"
A loud bang caught their attention, and they realised that Snape and Lockhart had begun their demonstration duel. One Snape-hex and Lockhart was down. And out for the count. Across the room.
Snape smirked.
"Now, as Professor Lockhart is . . . unavailable, I shall pair you up for duelling practice. Try not to do anything Madame Pompfrey cannot fix."
Despite Snape's caustic teaching methods, the first duelling lesson went surprisingly well until Bulstrode was paired up with Hufflepuff Justin Finch-Fletchley and cast a giant snake his way.
As the snake reared in confusion to orient itself, Lockhart came to, and, assuming the snake was set to attack, waved his wand and sent the snake flying into the air, to come crashing painfully down. Now angry, the snake rose quickly, fangs exposed, hissing displeasure to all who could hear.
But only Harry understood.
Instantly on the alert, Harry hissed soothing tones to the snake, assuring it that no one meant it harm.
The snake swivelled towards Harry and then back around to the crowd of anxious students and back to Harry once again.
Harry hissed again.
He didn't realize he wasn't speaking English.
As the snake stilled, Harry reached onto the duelling platform, scooped up the now calm snake, and stepped back, cradling it gently.
"Woah!"
At this, Harry looked up and found the entire hall staring at him. Snape looked distressed, Lockhart was stunned into silence.
"What'd I do?"
Dear Reviewers:
I know Wicked is already a musical, but the year that Hermione would have been a second year, only the book would have been available!
This is probably the last time I'll get to update for a long while. Graduate school is very intense, and I just don't have a lot of creative-free time (unfortunately)! I'm also in need of surgery (4-6 weeks recovery time) and hoping to relocate to western NY and then find a job there instead of trying to find a new job where I currently live.
On that note …. reviews mean a lot to me. Many times your comments and questions lead me to getting a new chapter together faster – even during the semester. There is no guarantee, of course, but if you give me ideas, or your reviews consistently point out something that means that the sooner a new chapter goes out the better, sometimes you'll jump start my muse and I'll go write!
I see that there are TWO HUNDRED and eight of you with this story on alert, so, please, please, please, please review! I continued this story from the first "Take Two" because my readers asked me to do so. I hadn't originally planned to do all the books. Reviews tell me that there is interest out there far more so than seeing how many alerts I have (although that's definitely cool).
The reviews you guys / gals leave are what inspire and encourage me to continue.
Love,
MysticSong
