Ginny Weasley and the Heir of Slytherin

Thief in Gryffindor Tower

"Hand it over, Malfoy," ordered Percy.

"When I've had a look," Malfoy replied as he waved the diary tauntingly in Harry's face.

Ginny was hardly listening — she was in a daze. Harry had had her diary and now Draco Malfoy had stolen it from him. This wasn't possible. It didn't make any sense. This was just some crazy dream she would wake up from to find Valentine's Day hadn't come yet. When she did wake up, she would make the day go the way it was supposed to and not at all like this.

"Expelliarmus!"

Harry had fired a spell at Malfoy that caused the diary — her diary — to fly out of his hands, so Ron could catch it.

"Harry!" scolded Percy. "No magic in the corridors. I'll have to report this, you know!"

Harry didn't seem at all upset, but Ginny was hardly looking at him as she absent-mindedly turned to wander off towards her next class. She still couldn't believe this was happening, but she felt very awake. Could her heart be pounding like this when she was asleep without waking her? But it made no sense — she had flushed that diary down a toilet weeks ago. How could Harry of all people have gotten ahold of it? What could she do? At least, Malfoy didn't have it anymore...

"I don't think Potter liked your valentine much!" Malfoy shouted at her as she passed him. Ginny's face turned bright red.

It was probably the most embarrassing moment of her entire life! Her hands instinctively covered her face as she ran into class. As soon as she had sat down at her desk, Ginny forced herself to pull her hands away from her face. She looked at them thinking that these shaking hands had opened the Chamber of Secrets and attacked two students just like her. And now the means by which she had done it was in the hands of Harry Potter. She had spent the past weeks thinking she was safe now — that everything was finally all right — and all that time things had been worse than ever.

It was only when she heard the bloated voice of Gilderoy Lockhart that she remembered what class she was in.

"Welcome to another class with your favorite celebrity teacher!" he said pompously as the rest of the students sauntered in, some still muffling their laughter over Ginny's valentine.

"And his lovely assistant," Fleeta Fleece chimed in importantly as she glided up to Lockhart's side like a ballerina.

"Miss Fleece, please return to your desk," said Lockhart. This was something he had never said before and it made Fleeta look as though she had just been ordered to move to Siberia.

"What?" she asked faintly.

"Sit at your desk; I have a new assistant today!" he declared. "Come on up here, Miss Wheezily!" Fleeta's cold slate eyes shot daggers at Ginny, who was still shaking with emotion from her humiliation out in the hallway. Ginny would never know how she managed to walk up in front of the class when she only wanted to curl up into a tiny little ball and disappear.

"It's 'Weasley'," she said, struggling to keep her voice steady, "and about my valentine —"

"I take it Harry got it," said Lockhart, winking cheerfully at her. "I made quite a show out of it, didn't I?"

"You know, I didn't ask to have my poem sung aloud," Ginny said hotly.

"I know, I know," said Lockhart proudly. "There's no need to thank me — I'm just overflowing with brilliant ideas!"

"What?" said Ginny, a little confused. "But I didn't want a big —" Lockhart held up his hand to silence her before she could finish.

"You're quite welcome, Miss Whispy," he said, "but I already told you that you didn't have to thank me. And now I have an extra treat for you today. You'll get to act out the title role from Year with the Yeti! Now, be sure you don't let my good looks distract you."