Ginny's suspicions

The next morning, Ginny climbed out of bed, clutching her head.

She felt a little groggy, as though she hadn't rested properly. Still, she knew she couldn't keep lying there. If she slept much longer, classes would probably start without her.

So she quickly sat up, got dressed, brushed her hair, and went to wash.

But when she came back to collect her textbooks, she discovered that her roommates were all still fast asleep in bed.

"Hey-get up! You'll be late for class!" she called.

A head poked out from behind the curtains of the next bed. "Ginny, have you slept yourself silly? It's the weekend!"

"The weekend?" Ginny's eyes widened.

How could it be the weekend?

She distinctly remembered it being Thursday when she went to bed.

Had she slept through an entire day?

Or was this actually a Detective Conan world?

"Of course it's the weekend. Wasn't yesterday Friday? You said you weren't feeling well and even asked Colin to get you excused from class. Are you still not better? Should you go to the Hospital Wing?" Several of her roommates immediately began asking after her with concern.

"I'm fine... maybe I remembered wrong." Ginny scratched her head and slowly sat back down on the edge of her bed, her gaze drifting to her little desk. There was nothing on it, but the Diary was hidden in the drawer.

Was it you, Mr. Riddle?

Although a trace of suspicion had crept into her mind, Ginny kept it to herself.

At this point, she would definitely get a scolding if she told her parents about the Diary. She certainly didn't want to receive a Howler in the middle of a meal. If that happened, she'd rather die!

Besides, Ginny didn't want to believe that "Mr. Riddle" would hurt her.

Take her current situation: although she'd lost a small stretch of her memory, she didn't seem to have been harmed.

Perhaps Mr. Riddle had some other reason? She desperately wanted to open the Diary right away and get to the bottom of everything, but when her hand rested on the drawer, she hesitated in fear. She was afraid that it had all been a lie-that from beginning to end, "Mr. Riddle" had only been trying to win her trust.

She'd treated Mr. Riddle as a friend and told him all her secrets. If he really had betrayed her, what was she supposed to do?

At that thought, Ginny suddenly realized that she knew absolutely nothing about "Mr. Riddle."

She'd only seen the honors he'd earned in the Trophy Room. But what about everything else?

What sort of person was Tom Riddle?

He seemed so outstanding. Perhaps he was like Percy?

No, he was much more interesting than Percy, and nowhere near as stuffy. Ginny thought about how "Mr. Riddle" had encouraged her to break a few trivial school rules over the past several days. That really had been fun. He'd also taught her plenty of little jinxes she couldn't learn from her textbooks, telling her to hit anyone she got into a fight with with one!

He wasn't like Percy at all. He was more like Bill. The more Ginny thought about it, the happier she felt, and the more convinced she became that "Mr. Riddle" couldn't possibly hurt her. But that brought her right back to where she'd started-was "Mr. Riddle" behind this or not? And if he was, why had he done it?

And should she keep talking to Mr. Riddle?

All these questions plagued Ginny, leaving her irritable. She wanted to go back to sleep, but couldn't sleep a wink.

So she simply got up and quietly walked to the common room.

"Hey, Ginny!" Ron called out to her, his eyes still bleary. "Could you go and get Hermione for me? Harry went to Quidditch practice this morning, and we're going to watch. You can come too."

"Oh, all right, but I'm not really in the mood right now." Ginny merely nodded,

then turned to find Hermione's dormitory. A few minutes later, Ginny and Hermione hurried downstairs together.

"Are you sure you won't come with us, Ginny?" Ron looked considerably more awake now. He was a little puzzled. His little sister usually idolized Harry so much that she wanted to keep her eyes on him every moment of the day. Yet now, she didn't seem all that interested in him.

Still, that wasn't so strange. Strip away the legends, and Harry was just an ordinary wizard. Ron himself had realized that as he'd gotten to know him. Of course, even without the trappings of legend, Harry was still a great friend-at least far better than that fraud Lockhart!

Ginny paused to think. She really hadn't been in the mood, but remembering how "Mr. Riddle" occasionally encouraged her to be more outgoing, she suddenly felt that going to watch wouldn't be such a bad idea. As it happened, she had nothing else to do, since she'd discovered that "Mr. Riddle" had thoughtfully finished all her weekend homework...

"All right."

The three of them stopped by the Great Hall to pick up some food, then headed to the grounds together. The Quidditch stands were empty, with hardly anyone around, and there wasn't even a single person on the pitch.

She did, however, spot Colin holding up his camera and frantically taking pictures of everything.

The three of them sat in a row. The morning mist over the grounds hadn't entirely cleared yet.

Before long, Harry and the other players came out in their Quidditch robes, looking as though they were about to start another round of practice. Ron was amazed at how intense Quidditch training was, since Harry had left before dawn.

"You're still not finished?"

"Finished? No! We haven't even started!" Harry said, shaking his head. "Wood spent hours talking about tactics. I'm practically starving."

"Want something to eat?" Ginny held out the bread in her hand. She didn't have much of an appetite.

He looked tempted, but Wood had no intention of giving him time to eat.

Harry kicked off with both feet and shot into the sky on his Nimbus 2000.

But practice was interrupted almost before it had begun.

Colin was holding up his camera and snapping pictures of them like a madman, much to Wood's displeasure. He suspected the boy was a spy sent by Slytherin to gather intelligence on their new tactics!

"Slytherin doesn't need a spy," George said helplessly.

"How do you know?"

"Because they've come themselves."

Several people in green robes walked onto the pitch, all carrying broomsticks. It was their old rival, the Slytherin Quidditch Team. Wood flew down furiously, and the tension between the two teams immediately became explosive.

"What's going on?"

Hermione's worried voice pulled Ginny out of her daydream.

"What happened?"

"They're arguing! Let's go and see!" Ron immediately jumped down. If a fight really broke out, he couldn't just stand by and watch!

When they rushed down, Ron and Hermione stared in surprise at the platinum-blond boy among the Slytherin players.

-Draco Malfoy.

Ginny knew him too, of course. His father had fought with hers in Flourish and Blotts over the summer.