AN: Hey there, I am Ermory nice to meet Y'all. So this story is a story that is originally translated from Italian so I am terribly sorry if grammar or dialogue that comes from the book is wrong.
Disclaimer: I do not own either the plot or the characters, the plot is from EmPotter and the characters are from JK Rowling's mind
Link to the original story: ?action=printall&sid=1166371
Prologue
The frogs croaked in the small green pond, the hens below amusedly cackled here and there creating havoc among the chickens, as the warm summer breeze blew pleasantly, rippling through trees and grass. A red-haired figurine was facing her window sill, absently looking out over the garden at the pond - the same pond in which her elder brothers had tried to drown her if it had not been for his mother's hoarse screams.
Ginny Weasley had just turned eleven: she was a thin, petite girl, her pretty face sprayed with freckles, below her big brown eyes and thick red hair: a flame red that went on orange, which Ginny liked to compare with the sunset.
Although she had received the letter a few days ago, the girl wanted to try herself to control her magic, and, furrowing her brows in contraction, made the petals of flowers on her windowsill open and close like a kind of submarine coral.
If only her mum had seen it!
Her mother would have certainly disintegrated her and since Ginny had received her letter she had become, if possible, even more, paranoid and hysterical. Not to mention the thrashing screams thrown into the kitchen when the girl had waved her Hogwarts letter all over the house, shrieking with happiness.
One thing that had made her crazy was the fact that her older brothers, Fred, George and Ron, had been spending hours making bets to guess which house their sister was going to end up with.
In short, it was bad on their part to reiterate that she would never be a Ravenclaw because she was too stupid, and the girl nearly burst into tears and cursed for that because now she should have to learn that her brothers liked to joke, even if she was not sure that this was really a joke.
Although it was hard to make her parents proud when their six sons had already done everything before her, the little Weasley had confidence in herself and would never let them down.
"Empty beds!" the mother's voice from the courtyard echoed in the room. "You could have crashed ... I was out of anguish ... But what did you care?"
What else had her brothers done?
Although curious to immediately rush down to investigate what they had accomplished this time, she was too angry. Angry with them for the fact that they excluded her yet again, like playing Quidditch.
She dominated her impulse of curiosity, giving way to pride and arrogance dominate, but she could not. After five minutes, she had opened the door impatiently and ran downstairs.
"The sky was overcast, mum"
"Do not talk with your mouth full!"
"But they were starving him to death, mum"
"The same is for you!"
Ginny quickly entered the kitchen, even more, intrigued by the words she had just heard, but stopped short: her eyes were immediately drawn to a boy, a boy who had no red hair of the Weasley, a boy who looked incredibly like... the famous Harry Potter …
She could not believe it.
The mysterious boy turned to the girl and Ginny saw that it was him, she let out a little scream and ran away again.
She made the stairs two at a time, even three at risk of falling and breaking all her teeth, and immediately shut the door to her room hoping not to have attracted too much attention, even if it seemed impossible. The girl noticed that the floorboard outside the door is still bobbing, because she heard the noise against the wooden door.
She tried to focus on the 'Ginevra's Room' name plate to change it in her mind - she hated her entire name of baptism (not to mention the second 'Molly'), but failed.
So, Ron, Fred and George had flown to Harry Potter's house to take him here to the Burrow? Was that why my mother was so angry? Yes, and Ginny should have imagined it. She had heard her brother scoff at the fact that his best friend did not answer the letters, while a certain Hermione Granger did. The reason for the lack of answers to all those letters, Ron attributed to Harry's bad guardians. She had to expect something like that.
However, at the moment, it's needless to say that her little heart was beating at a thousand miles per hour: she had seen the most famous wizard of the world, live!
Not that she had not seen him before, because Ginny Weasley and Harry Potter had met once on the first of September of the previous year, at the King's Cross station before taking the run-up and emerging on the track nine and three quarters.
"Excuse me"
A trembling voice came faintly behind Ginny's shoulders and the little girl turned around: a thin boy, with messy black hair and shining green eyes, looked at her and her family through his round glasses.
Ginny stared at him for a long time, childishly attracted by that boy ... but she did not have the slightest idea that it was Harry Potter. She knew nothing about him but it seemed he had already left a mark in her mind ...
"Hey mum, let's see if you can guess who we just met on the train!" exclaimed Fred excitedly, getting off the train. "You know that black-haired boy who was near us at the station, do you know who he is?"
"Who is it?"
"Harry Potter!" the twins answered in chorus.
Ginny's heart gave a somersault.
Who would have thought that the boy she had long observed was Harry Potter?
"Oh, mum, can I get on the train to see him?" the little girl asked her mother in her most desperately pleading tone, because the boy's eyes had almost stunned her. "Mum, please ..."
"You've already seen him, Ginny, and that poor boy is not a zoo animal!" the mother blurted out and Ginny told herself that this was absolutely a lost case, and that it was probably not worth the trouble.
She thought desperately that maybe he would see her again in passing in the corridors at Hogwarts, when it was also her time to go to school, the following year …
But she was wrong. He would see her again, yes, but at her house for a month!
She turned towards the window and leaned over to see what was going on downstairs, past the kitchen garden that could be seen outside her bedroom: the twins and Ron were teaching Harry Potter how to get rid of the garden gnomes.
She even had the idea to get on the desk for a better view, but then told herself it was a bad idea. If Mum came right in then she could even think of suicide! She would not have thought the girl was looking at Harry Potter, right? Even if she had done nothing but talk about him all summer with her brothers ...
Daydreams of the two falling in love reigned in Ginny's mind indefinitely …
Life with Harry Potter at the Burrow was a paradise for Ginny Weasley, even if the girl did not remember not to making a fool of herself in the boy's presence: she tended to drop everything when he was around and so appeared more clumsy than usual; she got used to going purple and not saying anything, which was not in her nature; otherwise, if she had to say something, it was mostly nonsense.
But the worst moment was when Ginny caught Harry looking at himself in the mirror above the fireplace, and the mirror roared, 'Put your shirt inside your pants, shaman!'. Ginny began to laugh like crazy, much to the irritation of Percy (who was trying to study who knows what) and the impatience of his brothers.
On Wednesday, Mrs. Weasley woke up early to go to Diagon Alley. But at that moment, the group, which also included a certain Hermione Granger and her parents, had split up.
Ginny and her mother, after going to Gringotts with the others, were walking alone into Diagon Alley to buy all the school supplies that she needed - except the books, which they would buy all together at Flourish and Blotts.
"Mum, Madam Malkin's!"
"No, we will not go there," said the mother. "Your uniform will be second-hand. Remember, we've already talked about it!"
"But mom ..."
"Ginny, do not act spoiled! I'm sorry, but this is decided. Here we are!"
She dragged her daughter into a shabby-looking shop that seemed to be standing solely by magic. If the mother had not dragged her there, Ginny would never have noticed that there was a store at all: it didn't have a sign, and inside there were very few lights that made it seem all dark and claustrophobic.
"Hogwarts?" asked a smiling little witch. "I have what you need ... follow me, follow me"
Ginny obeyed and followed her into the back, where she was made to try the ugliest tunics she had ever seen. Even those of Ron (which were also second-hand) were not so ruined! In the end, she had to settle for a grey and little frayed tunic, as well as a pointed hat (as the list said) a pair of gloves similar to those in dragon leather, and a winter coat.
Leaving the shop, Mrs. Weasley noticed her daughter's afflicted face.
"Well, when you grow up I'll buy you a new, shiny black tunic," she said encouragingly, and Ginny smiled as she consulted her list.
"Um ... uniform, textbooks ... accessories yes, then: brass scales"
"We already have it at home"
"Telescope"
"You will use Bill's"
"Set of glass or crystal tubes"
"Charlie had so many ... and we do not even miss the main ingredients for the potions!"
"A cauldron?"
"We have to buy this, the store must be right ... here, around the corner"
They entered a shop crowded by students, which was full of scales, telescopes of mixed sizes (Ginny was immediately fascinated by one that was very large) as well as cauldrons of all kinds: from solid gold to pewter.
Despite the crowd that were there, they got out quickly. Ginny, in the joy of having finally bought something new, bumped into a tall, thin girl with thick, brown hair and big hazel eyes, making the girl's cauldron shatter by her feet.
There was a terrible noise and everyone turned to them: some boys, who also seemed to be of the age of Hogwarts if not of Ginny's age, giggled loudly. Ginny helped the unfortunate girl pick up her cauldron, ignoring the puffs and laughter of the others. Mrs. Weasley shouted reproach at her daughter as the other girl's mother tried telling her that it could happen to anyone.
"Sorry ..." Ginny muttered embarrassedly, red to the root of her flaming hair. "Did you get hurt?"
"Oh, it's nothing!" the girl replied gently.
"Let's go, Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley hissed.
"Demelza, let's go too: this place is too crowded" echoed the girl's mother, much softer than Mrs. Weasley, and the two girls looked at each other.
"Then we'll meet at Hogwarts," said the girl named Demelza, with a gentle smile.
"Yes ... see you!" Ginny greeted her and hurried out of the shop hoping that the crowd will already forget everything.
They did not talk about what had happened in the store, and Ginny only tried to imagine what was going on in the mother's head: having children making more noise than a Centauri herd was exasperating.
They walked for more than ten minutes without saying a word, only throwing occasional glances at each other.
They passed theEeylops Owl Emporium, which sold all kinds of animals, though owls dominated. Ginny's eyes were immediately caught by a white and fluffy cat, but did not dare to breathe: she know that her mother would never buy it. They also went by the pharmacy and then back to the Leaky Cauldron, then Ginny, stopped short and rushed to the window of Quality Quidditch supplies.
"Oh, Quidditch!" blurted her mother with disapproval.
"Look mum, look! The new Nimbus Two thousand One! Mum, look!"
The handle of the racing broom gleamed in the sunlight, and it was the last one still unsold. Ginny, knowing as much as she did about Quidditch and brooms, saw from a glance that it was far ahead of the old Two thousand model.
"Just like your brothers ... come on, let's not waste time with these broomsticks!" Mrs. Weasley said impatiently, but Ginny did not seem wanting to move from the window. "Come on, you can't even ride a broom like that!"
How many things you do not know about me, thought the girl irritably. Her mother didn't know that it was since she was six that she snatched, whenever she could, her brothers' brooms to train for Quidditch: she wanted to be prepared for when, one day, she would present herself to audition for her House at Hogwarts.
Her mother now got mad and Ginny told herself maybe it was time to move.
They continued to the end of the street, where a cramped and dirty shop stood. A sign, with faded golden, said Ollivanders, wands of superior quality from 382 BC.
The two entered and a little bell announced their entry.
The shop was just like itself on the outside and an old man with big light eyes peeked out of the gloom.
"Hello, Mr. Ollivander!" Mrs. Weasley said cheerfully.
"Good morning," he replied softly. "So what do we have today? A Weasley, is it not ?"
Mrs. Weasley nodded vigorously.
"What's your name, miss?"
Ginny stared at him puzzled, then said her name specifying to call her with the diminutive.
"Oh, Ginny ... short for Ginevra ..." Mr. Ollivander pulled out a long measure tape. "So, what's the arm with which you use your wand, Miss Weasley?"
"The right one, sir," she replied.
The wand maker set about taking measurements from the shoulder to Ginny's fingertips, then from the wrist to the elbow, from the shoulder to the dusty floor, from the knee to the armpit and finally took the head circumference while Ginny had her fist in her mouth to stifle the laughs: her mother gave her a look of pure threat.
"Here, that's enough," Ollivander announced. "Miss Weasley, try this: maple and dragon-heartstring, ten inches, very flexible."
Ginny took it, with shaking hands, and waved it.
The disaster was imminent: the shelves burst into the air and Ollivander snatched the wand from her hands.
"Try this"
The girl obeyed but caused the destruction of an oil lamp.
Ginny tried, tried, tried again and finally ...
"Eleven-and-a-half inches, willow and phoenix tail feathers." Ollivander handed her a beautiful black wand and Ginny grabbed it.
She realized that it was the right one when a sudden heat ran through her arm with a pleasant tingling and from the tip of her new wand a trail of red and blue sparks emanated like miniature fireworks. Mrs. Weasley smiled and Ollivander had a satisfied expression on his face, he then said in a croaking voice:
"It's the wand that chooses the wizard"
After paying seven galleons of gold for Ginny's wand, the two hurried through Diagon Alley to reach the others at Flourish and Blottsfor the textbooks: Ginny obviously would have them secondhand, like all the stuff she owned.
They met Fred and George in Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop and Percy's in a crowded, junk-filled shop, and they headed off to the bookstore where they were sure they would find Mr. Weasley in the company of Mr. Granger.
"Oh, that sounds like a fascinating book," Fred mumbled, chuckling and pointing to Percy's new book: Prefects who gained power, A study of Hogwarts prefects and their later careers.
"Stop it," he snapped.
"Oh-ho, very ambitious, boy," George said back.
"Stop that nonsense"
"But Percy!" Ginny intervened, who could not help eavesdropping on their conversation, leaving her mother's hand. "Did you not always say you wanted to be Minister of Magic once Fudge was dead?"
"Ginny, for God's sake!" her brother hissed, looking around in terror. "Shut up too and walk with mum!"
The girl could not understand.
They walked for more than five minutes (Fred, George and Percy argued all the way but that wasn't really new) and reached the bookshop, which was crowded with an unusually long line. The boys could not figure out what that crowd of middle-aged ladies like Mrs. Weasley was doing, but Ginny had guessed it from a big sign, hanging from the windows of the upper floor:
Today, from 12.30 to 2.30
GILDEROY LOCKHART
will sign copies of his autobiography
Magical me.
Mrs. Weasley was now fixing her hair very nervously.
"What's wrong with her?" Fred said, widening his eyes, amused.
Ginny laughed and pointed to the sign.
"Oh, damn it!" Fred moaned, too disgusted to laugh, "If I knew I would have came in ..."
"Guys, here you are, good!" said her mother while Ron, Harry and their friend joined them. "In a minute we'll see ..."
The girl craned her neck: Gilderoy Lockhart emerged from the shelves and sat down gracefully at a table. The wizard had a head of blonde and wavy hair, and wore a turquoise dress bringing out his eyes. He showed a radiant smile, while winking to every witch.
Ginny blinked, thinking he was really beautiful.
The first words of the man were:
"Is it ever possible, but is that Harry Potter?"
Ginny turned to the boy but Lockhart leaned forward, took Harry by the arm, and dragged him until he found the boy with himself in the front row: Harry went as red as Weasley's hair; Lockhart shook his hand; the photographer of the Daily Prophet took countless photos one after the other; and the audience burst into loud applause.
Ginny joined the applause in an excited way and Hermione Granger smiled at her, clapping her hands. Ron gave her a look of profound contempt as Fred and George laughed at Percy, who was livid, covered with dense gray smoke from the cameras.
It seemed that the vision of Harry and Lockhart was perfect.
"Smile, Harry!" the man exclaimed, exposing his very white teeth. "You and I, together, are worthy of the front page. Ladies and gentlemen what an extraordinary moment this is! When young Harry entered Flourish and Blotts this morning to buy my autobiography, which I am now happy to present to him", the crowd applauded again. "He had no idea that he would go away with the entire collection of my works, for free. Ladies and gentlemen, I have the great pleasure and pride of announcing that in September I will assume the position of Defense against the Dark Arts Professor at the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry of Hogwarts! "
Lockhart put a stack of books in the arms of the boy. Harry came out of the crowd, staggering slightly and approaching Ginny, who clutched her cauldron (full of second-hand books that were bought by her mother) in her fingers so hard that her knuckles went white. Harry Potter threw her Lockhart's books into the container, gasping from the effort.
"You take these, I'll buy them ..." he muttered.
"I bet you liked it, did you not, Potter?" Suddenly said a shuffling voice, and Ginny turned: a thin, pale boy with a pointed chin and blond hair that was nearly white turned to Harry mockingly with a perfect grin on his face. "The famous Harry Potter can not even go into a bookstore without making the front page!"
Ginny stared at the boy: how dare he? Now it was not Harry's fault that even a famous writer of works, Gilderoy Lockhart, admired him because he was famous. She noticed that she hated that blond to death and didn't even know why that affirmation gave her so much trouble, so much that ...
"Leave him alone, he did not want all this!" she snapped and the boy turned to her.
"Oh, look Potter ... you got yourself a girlfriend!" he exclaimed and Ginny blushed violently.
Why had she intervened? Yes, the blond's statement had bothered her particularly without a reason and it had been very brave of little Weasley to rebuke him, since it was the first time she went by saying something logical in the presence of Harry Potter... but now why did she have to become an all-one with her red hair?
"Guys, it's crazy inside, let's go out!" said Mr. Weasley struggling through the crowd, with Fred and George on his heels.
"Well, well, well ... Arthur Weasley," said another shuffling voice, and Ginny looked up.
"Lucius" greeted her father in an icy tone.
A man identical to the blond boy was standing behind him and holding a hand on his shoulder with a sneer exactly identical to what his son had: Lucius? Then it was him Lucius Malfoy! But then... the kid with the pointed chin must had been Draco Malfoy, the bitter enemy of her brother Ron!
"Overwork at the Ministry, Arthur? All those inspections ... I hope they pay overtime," said Lucius Malfoy mockingly, and taking the second-hand Transfiguration Practical Guide for Beginners from Ginny's cauldron, then continued. "Of course not, what's the point of dishonoring the wizard name if they do not pay enough?"
"We have a very different idea about what dishonors the wizard name, Malfoy"
"It seems clear to me ... Going around with Muggles ... I thought this family could not fall any further"
Ginny opened her eyes, mortified and horrified, then her cauldron flew in the air: her father had rushed onto the man, hurling him against a shelf while dozens of books fell on their heads.
"Take it, dad!" Fred and George shouted in unison.
"No, Arthur, no!" Mrs. Weasley shrieked.
Ginny, Harry, Draco, Ron, and Hermione all stared at the scene, frozen and speechless as the crowd withdrew: Hagrid was telling others to step aside as he separated the two injured men. Mr. Weasley was cut on his lip and Mr. Malfoy in one eye, still clutching Ginny's Transfiguration book.
He looked at her with malignant contempt and gave it back to her.
"Keep this little girl ... take your book ... it's all your father can give you!"
Ginny, whose eyes were full of tears, thought she had never had a worse day than that.
When they got home, Ginny immediately dived into her bed, flipping through the pages of her second-hand books with curiosity and forgetting what happened at Flourish and Blotts even though she did not really want to read them all like Hermione Granger, whom Ron had often talked about how much of a nerd she was.
She was amusedly went through the images in Thousand Herbs and Magic Mushrooms, then took the Transfiguration one, and something slipped out from inside, landing with a thud on the floor.
Ginny picked up a diary.
It had a shiny, shabby black cover with a date that was fifty years old and the girl wondered if it was worth opening. Her father had told her so many strange stories, like a little book that burned your eyes when you opened it, or there were books like Sonnets of a Sorcerer that caused the unfortunate to speak in verse for a lifetime ... maybe Ginny would have made the end of the old witch who lives in Bath: forced to stay with her freckled nose glued to the pages.
But mum would never have put a diary like that in her cauldron!
Ginny opened it and noticed that on the front page was written 'T.M. Riddle '. She flipped through the pages but realized, with dismay, that there was nothing written. The pages were yellowed and was visibly empty.
So her mom had not bought it! Someone had bought it to the bookstore and in the joy of seeing Gilderoy Lockhart had forgotten it in her cauldron. Yes, it had to be like that.
The girl still flipped through the pages impatiently, as if expecting to see any message appear, even just 'Dear Diary' or "Eleven thirty: Hogwarts library' or maybe a name, a surname and an address- but nothing. So, she took her quill and ink and wrote something on it.
My name is Ginny Weasley.
Ginny's eyes widened: her writing was gradually disappearing, as if the page had been of an absorbing material. She felt the point where her quill had made contact to see what was wrong but quickly withdrew her hand: on the page, there were forming other words she had never written and with a different writing from hers, a firm and neat writing.
Hi, Ginny Weasley. My name is Tom Riddle. How did you get my diary?
Her eyes in fright and surprise, and went almost close to screaming.
How the hell did that journal answer? What was she supposed to do? Should she show it to someone before using it? What was that little diary that looked so harmless, dangerous or bewitched?
She could even hear the screams of her mother inside her head; her father's reproaches; the snorts of her brother Percy who repeated to her that she had been too unwary, that she ought to grow up someday... but she could also hear the applause and the congratulations of the twins for listening to her instinct, without worrying too much about the consequences, like a real Gryffindor.
I found it by mistake in my cauldron in Diagon Alley, she replied. When I went to buy school supplies for Hogwarts.
Oh, Hogwarts! First year?
Yes, it's my first year but I already know a lot of things: I have six brothers older than me.
Are you excited?
Very. I've dreamed of going to Hogwarts since my older brother went there. But I must say that I'm also a little nervous for this first year.
Why should you be?
Well, I have to live up to my parents' expectations: Bill was a head boy; Charlie captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team; Percy is a Prefect; Fred and George are a bit 'combines school disasters but have good grades and everyone loves them; and Ron has a fantastic best friend. Do you understand? In the family, it is expected that I will live up to the others but if I succeed then, nobody will consider it a great thing. Above all, because I am the only girl. I just want to make my parents proud and I will succeed in spite of everything!
Oh, but you're very smart, Ginny Weasley! Tom Riddle commented. We must always have confidence in ourselves, that is how we achieve our goals and goals.
Ginny smiled happily: gullible, idiotic, paranoid ... the diary was absolutely harmless!
What was wrong with a diary on which someone had imposed a spell to make sure that it answered and that, moreover, it gave advice? It could not do any harm, in fact, it would be of great help to let off the pressure and to tell all the things she could not say to anyone but it, which certainty would not have opened his mouth otherwise. It had been fortunate that someone had forgotten it.
Sbe decided not to discuss it with anyone, a wise decision too, because surely Fred and George would have confiscated it: an object so curious certainly would not go unnoticed, especially in the eyes of all her brothers.
"GINNY! LUNCH IS READY!" her mother cried out suddenly and the girl winced.
I have to go, they're calling me for lunch. See you soon! she threw down a few lines and answered her mother.
"COMING!"
But before doing anything, she hid the diary beneath the bed for good: that thing was hers. It was the first time that she possessed something exclusively of her own and she would give it her heart.
So that is the end of the first chapter, nice. Do you like all the hints?
Please do a review but don't be too harsh, English is not my mother language and I still need an editor, I will try to update every week but I have my GCSEs starting in two days, so wish me luck.
Again the link to the original story in Italian is this: ?action=printall&sid=1166371
Have a nice day
~Ermory
Editor: Helena Haansilton