The Girl Who Lived

The mysterious diary

The next morning, George, Dean and Ron accompanied with Blaise Zabini came bright and early for Harriet. Ginny wasn't even awake when she dressed or when Arthur Weasley levitated her trunk downstairs. The boy greeted her with a hug, while his father took her things to the awaiting Knight Bus. Harriet was forced into a crushing embrace by Mrs. Weasley and received a few pats on the back from the woman's husband before she could escape. A remarkably short but still nauseating ride later, the purple bus left three semi-queasy people standing in front of nothing short of a mansion.

It was at least three storeys high, stretching across Harriet's view and having two separate wings, and it was composed of what seemed to be enchanted, greyish-silver stone. She simply gaped at it for a moment, a bemused Blaise by her side, before she was gently taken along the path and inside.

As soon as she walked in the door, she was all but tackled by two small blurs, Blaise's sisters, who were excited to finally meet her. Isabella, the eldest at the lofty age of seven, was almost the splitting image of Blaise with longer hair. She possessed the same rich skin colour, brownish-black hair, and deep-brown eyes, not to mention the same facial structure and a very familiar smile. On the other hand, Alexandria, age five, was obviously related to them, but her looks were different. She, too, had the same skin and facial features, but that was where the similarities ended. Her hair was surprisingly white-blonde, a colour very similar to that of Draco and Lucius Malfoy. Additionally, Harriet noticed that the girl had light-green eyes, ones that were much the colour of spring leaves.

Smiling, Harriet glanced over the two girls' shoulders to see their mother, Erendiria, approaching. The beautiful dark-skinned and rather tall woman grinned at her, Harriet noting that Blaise and his sisters most definitely had her looks, as well as her smile.

"It is so good to see you again, dear," the lady greeted, hugging Harriet as well, though much more sedately. "I'm so glad that you agreed to visit."

"Thank you for having me, Mrs. Zabini," Harriet stated, feeling strangely shy.

The lady laughed. "You are welcome, and just call me Eren." She beamed down as her two daughters politely looked on, even though it was readily apparent that they desired to drag Harriet off with them, most likely to have a tea party or something similar.

Unfortunately for them, Erendiria insisted on first sitting down to breakfast, where Harriet happily engaged in conversation with the family. Afterwards, she was shown her room, but the Gryffindore didn't really have a chance to examine the blue and green themed space before she was hurried off to the library with Blaise. They spent the rest of the day there, his two sisters coming to join them and showing Harriet various magical children's books, which she greatly enjoyed.

It wasn't until after dinner that Harriet discovered the diary, tucked away within her trunk. She and Blaise were in the guestroom she was to stay in, one that was directly across the hall from his room, sorting through the things she had bought at Diagon Alley. Somehow, they had gotten into a conversation about the Weasley family, more specifically Ginny, and their reaction to Harriet's celebrity.

"Yes, Ginny is very nice, but she's a bit hung-up on the whole Girl-Who-Lived rubbish," Harriet stated with exasperation, looking through her trunk, thinking Ginny had probably written about some extravagant experience on staying with the-girl-who-lived in her diary

Blaise chuckled. "Well, it could have been worse."

Harriet paused and shivered. "True. Imagine how bad it would have been if I were a boy. She probably would have fancied me something dreadful."

"Yes, I guess you're lucky in that she fancies blokes and not other girls," he allowed with a laugh. "She probably would have done crazy things like forget what she was doing whenever you were around-"

Harriet narrated Blaise some of her craziest experiences while staying with the Weaslies.
His face blossomed into a full-blown grin. "Sounds like a different Weasley 'fancies you something dreadful', my friend."

The girl glared at him. "Don't remind me."

She turned and began looking through her trunk once more. Her hands were searching along the edges, hoping to find her copy of Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2, when they closed around another book entirely.

"What's this?" Harriet pulled the diary free and examined the cover, noting the inscription. "T. M. Riddle." She ran her fingers over the letters a strange feeling stirring in both her mind and belly.

"What have you got there, Harriet?" Blaise questioned coming up behind her and placing his hands on her shoulders.

She twisted around to face him. "It looks like a diary, and it's certainly not mine or Ginny's. Look at the initials. See."

She fingered the cover once more. Inside her head, she had the same feeling she did when another mind was around, and there were flares of this feeling every time she stroked the book.

He nodded. "But how did it get in your trunk?"

"I don't know. I certainly didn't put it there," she stated, the faint stirring in her mind still present.

There was something about the name that was so very familiar. Like the name of a childhood friend she hadn't talked to in a long time, but that was silly. Harriet never had any friends before Ron and Blaise. Well, perhaps Hedwig and Hagrid.

"Ginny or Mrs. Weasley maybe," he supplied, also running his fingers over the book. "But why would they give you another person's diary, especially an unused one," he added as they opened it and noted that all of the pages were blank.

Harriet shrugged, shutting the cover and running her thumb over the letters once more. "I have no idea". Harriet simply shoved the diary into her trunk.

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