Ginny and Luna spent all of their free time looking up the Protean charm. They wanted to finish the final preparations for the DA and wasted no time going to the library to do their research. The Protean charm was not highly advanced magic so it only took them about one hour before they found the book they were looking for.

"Ginny, here it is. Instructions on the Protean charm," Luna said excitedly.

"Here," Ginny said as she took the book from Luna, "Let me see."

Both girls read the description for the charm and Luna looked for some parchment in her bag to copy down what they found. She couldn't find any in her bag so she went to take some from Ginny's bag. Ginny noticed what parchment Luna was about to use and shouted, "Wait!"

Luna looked at Ginny with a curious look but before Ginny could explain, Madame Pince walked over to them and asked them to be quiet. Ginny apologized and decided they would be best to finish up their work elsewhere. The girls grabbed their things and took the book with them. Madam Pince was reluctant to let them take it as they had been awfully loud in the library but in the end she gave in and let them take it.

Once they were outside in the courtyard, Ginny took some regular parchment and began to copy down the information on the Protean charm. She could tell Luna was anxious to know what her little scene at the library had been all about. Luna was just too nice and Ginny knew she would patiently wait until Ginny decided to tell her what was going on.

As she worked, Ginny thought about telling Luna about Malfoy's parchment. She decided she needed someone else to know just in case something happened to her.

"Luna?" Ginny said, putting her quill down.

"Yes Ginny? Are you ready to tell me what that was back there? You seemed frightened that I would write in your parchment."

"Yes, you see Malfoy gave me that parchment."

"Malfoy?" she asked.

"It's so we can keep in contact about the DA. You're supposed to write in it and the person who has the other piece in the set will receive the message."

"Oh, now I see. I'm sorry, I should have asked before I just grabbed your things."

"It's okay. I was just worried that Malfoy would get the information we were about to write down. Luna, please don't tell Neville about the parchment, please?"

Luna sighed but understood why Ginny didn't want Neville knowing about the parchment. He would worry if he knew there was a way for Gin and Malfoy to be sending secret messages.

"I won't."

That night Ginny was kept awake with thoughts about Malfoy's parchment. It must have been a moment of insanity on her part when she agreed to use it as a means of communication with Malfoy. Had she not learned anything from her experience with Riddle's diary?

At around 3 in the morning Ginny had enough of not being able to sleep and headed down to the common room. She grabbed the parchment out of her bag and set it down at the table while she looked for a quill and some ink. She had to get rid of the foreboding feelings she had towards it before her brain exploded.

This parchment was meant to only be read by Malfoy and he couldn't possibly possess her through it, right? She wasn't sure but she would test it out. She would write something short and then talk to Malfoy about it later. If he was fully aware of what they conversed though it, it would mean it was doing only what it was intended for. Ginny knew her logic might be flawed but it kept her resolve from wavering.

The more she thought about it the easier it would be for her to chicken out and ask Malfoy for a different way to communicate. She was about to give up and go to sleep when she decided to just face her fear and wrote a single word on the dreaded parchment.

"Git."

She watched as the word vanished ever so slowly into the parchment. She held her breath waiting for something to happen but after a minute of looking at it she decided nothing would happen. Well not until Malfoy looked at it and saw what she wrote.

She was berating herself for her choice of word when she saw a steady flow of ink materialize on the parchment.

"Not surprising that your first attempt at communication is an insult, Weasley."

Getting a response this late, or perhaps she should say early, startled her. She did not expect Malfoy to be awake, much less for him to actually respond.

"You're awake?"

"So it seems. I don't sleep much. And it seems like you don't either."

"I usually do," she wrote before quickly adding, "Your parchment kept me up tonight."

"How so?"

"I..." should she tell him why? That would require her telling him a part of her past she was not ready to share.

A big question mark appeared on the parchment. He was waiting for an answer. She would just have to tell him enough to keep him from probing any further.

"I had a bad experience with a parchment similar to this a few years back."

It took him a while to respond, "Look if the parchment makes you that uncomfortable, we can find a different form of communication."

"It's fine..." she let that vanish before adding, "but let's talk about what we talk about on here in person. I need to make sure that our conversations are real. And that it's really only you who gets these messages and that they will only be DA related."

"And may I ask why the strange request?"

"No." Before he could question why she added, "maybe I will tell you about why later."

"Fine. Good night Weasley," was the last message she received to which she simply wrote, "Good night."

Ginny managed to get a few hours of sleep before she had to be up for classes. She decided to sleep through most of breakfast and only gave herself enough time to go down to the great hall and grab a muffin. By the time she got there the great hall was mostly empty. On her way out she bumped into Malfoy.

He quietly said, "Our conversations are real," and left.

AN I hope I am not being too confusing about Ginny's fears about the parchment or anything else in this chapter. If I am let me know and I will do my best to correct this. Coming soon is their first DA meeting (finally!).