Sorry I took so long writing this chapter! You guys have probably all lost interest by now. I have no excuse for taking this long other than pure laziness. But this chapter is nice and long to make up for it, so I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 4

Hatred

As soon as I recognise the feeling, I am ashamed. Ashamed and confused. I know jealousy is a bad thing to be feeling, and I have always been warned against letting it get the better of me. I have always waved those warnings off, but now, sitting here seething with hatred for my best friend, I know better. All I want to do is lean over and slap her full in her pretty, giggling, stupid, useless face. But I hold myself back because I'm not sure why I feel like this. Katz is still rambling, and when she is excited about something, she can talk for hours. I tune her out and begin the impossible task of dissecting my feelings.

All I know is that this green-eyed monster surfaced as soon as Katie told me about Scorpious. But am I jealous about the fact that she has a date, or the fact that it's Scorpious? I'm not sure. I need some time to sort myself out, so I stand up to leave. Katz stops her mindless chatter and looks up at me. "Something wrong?" She smiles.

I want to scream at her, but instead I calmly take a deep breath, paste on a huge smile and say brightly "I'm so glad Scorp asked you out, finally! He's been dying to for weeks, I can tell. But we have to get back up to the castle now. We want good spots at the table for dinner, yeah?"

Katie agrees and stands up, looping her arm through mine as we start off towards the school. I have to repress a disgusted shudder as she touches me. What is wrong with me?

At the Slytherin table we are joined by the other half of our gang. Katie immediately becomes all bubbly and makes a show of sitting next to Scorpious. He looks delighted, and focuses his attention solely on her throughout the entire meal. I don't even get a hello. I don't know why that hurts so much.

Albus also looks a little put-out at the prospect of not being able to talk to Katie, but as soon as he catches my stormy face his gloom snaps instantly to concern. He raises his eyebrows questioningly, and I send a death glare in the direction of Slytherin's latest Happy Couple. Albus' confusion shows on his face. He obviously saw my entry to the Hall, all cozied up to Katie, smiling sunnily. I silently congratulate myself on my acting skills. I'm not sure if I want Albus to know my predicament just yet, so I mouth "tell you later" and paste another fake smile onto my face, asking him about detention with Professor Looney Lovegood.

After dinner I escape to the library with a mumbled excuse about writing an essay. The others just shrug and tell me they'll meet me in the common room later. They're used to my habit of avoiding spending time in our cold, stone prison. Once I am curled up in my little corner of the library, a sanctuary of books and quiet that I have made for myself, I close my eyes and let out a huge sigh. My brain is so mixed up and confused right now, and I have a great deal of thinking to do.

"That's a pretty drastic sigh."

I squeak and sit up so fast my neck cracks. I hadn't known there was anyone else in this little hide-out. My eyes narrow as I catch sight of a tangle of black hair that contrasts with sharp, pale features, and black eyes with a cunning and slightly deranged glint in them. Jason Black.

He flashes me a grin that I would've once found charming. Now it just makes me feel sick. And angry. I am not in the mood for any of this jerk's mind games.

"Oh" I say. "It's you."

"Such a warm greeting, my darling" he drawls, making my scowl deepen.

"I am no one's 'darling'. Least of all yours." My voice is as cold as my stare, but he doesn't seem fazed. Jason seems to bask in others' discomfort, and enjoys every second of making someone angry. I wish I'd seen earlier how selfish and shallow he was, and not almost ruined a good friendship over him. It so wasn't worth it.

"Ah, but you were once, were you not?" he smirks, watching my expression darken from one of anger to one of pure loathing.

"I was never yours. As much as I wanted to be, I never truly was, was I? You had your chance, and I would've done anything for you – absolutely anything – but you ruined it. I have no desire to speak to you, or even look at you, anymore." My biting comments are lost on him, and naturally, he hones right in on the part where I admitted how much he meant to me. Trust him to use my own words against me.

"Anything, eh? Are you sure you don't still feel that way, 'cause it sounded like you could use some cheering up, just before. I know I certainly could." He raises his eyebrows suggestively, and I automatically lean away. I'm so not in the mood for this. Kicking someone when they're down is Jason's specialty, and he isn't wasting any talent here. He's gone into full-on flirt-mode, and I am so angry at myself that I ever fell for his so-called charms.

But my body doesn't seem to agree with me. My heart has started racing, and my palms are beginning to feel sweaty, the way they used to when he was this close to me. I jump up. "You're never getting anything from me." I snap as I begin to hastily gather my things. I'm not going to return to the dorm and face my friends just yet, but I can at least move to a different part of the library. One that hasn't been tainted by the presence of The Jerk.

But Jason, too, jumps to his feet. "No" he says, seeming to decide something. "I'll go. You stay here."

Before I can protest, he gives me a wink that makes my stomach churn (from an even mix of loathing and longing) and swaggers away. Mentally slapping myself, I sit down once more, curled into the beanbag that perfectly fits my shape. That's when I notice the book. It looks very old, and is bound in deep brown leather. It's lying under the table, with one corner sticking out.

Thinking it must have been left here by Jason, I reach down to pick it up, intending to go and place it in the lost property box. But when my fingers brush the soft cover I changed my mind. A warm, tingling sensation starting in my hand spreads throughout my entire body, filling me with warmth and comfort. All my earlier worries about Katie and Scorpius disappear, as does my annoyance at Jason. I feel calm, happy, and serene.

I jerk my hand away, and my dark mood comes rushing back, though not as intense as it was before. My fingers are still tingling slightly from where they touched the book, and I absentmindedly rub them on my robes. I stare at the book. What magic is this? I feel as though I should be scared of it, but I'm not. When I look at the funny little brown leather book, I am simply curious. Something as harmless as a book couldn't do much damage, could it?

Deciding to take the risk, I reach down and grab the book, flipping it up onto the table and letting it go as quickly as possible. My fingers don't tingle this time. Gingerly, I open the cover and am surprised to see that the first page is blank. Turning a couple of pages, I notice that they're all blank. With a disappointed sigh, I close the book and sit back. What's the use of having such a strange little book if it doesn't even have writing in it? Then a thought hits me. Maybe it's a diary.

That would explain the blank pages, although it didn't really throw any light onto the warmth I'd felt when I first picked it up. I wasn't feeling that anymore though. The diary felt completely normal; old, worn, yet still soft leather and crinkly yellowed parchment. Maybe I imagined it?

There is no name in the front, so maybe it isn't Jason's after all. I'd still better return it to the lost property box though, because it isn't mine. But I'll have to do that later, because for now I really do have an essay to write.

I set out my quills, ink, and parchment, and I have just begun writing when I hear a voice hiss "Rose!"

Sighing, I turn around. "I thought you were with Katie."

Scorpius gives his head a funny half-nod, half-shake and sighs. "I was, but-" he trails off.

I look up at him curiously and notice him staring at the diary, which I've left sitting next to my bag.

"What's that?" he asks curiously.

"A diary" I reply.

He flaps his hands impatiently. "Yes, I can see that, but what is it? It feels kind of strange."

He reaches out a hand towards it and I slap it away, grabbing the book and stuffing it into my bag. For some unknown reason, I suddenly feel protective of the little brown diary. Scorpious shrugs and turns away. "I wasn't going to hurt it."

"I know, it's just very old and fragile, that's all. I got it as a present from a great auntie, and I really don't want it to get hurt. Sorry." The lie rolls off my tongue so easily I'm surprised. Then I think of something. "But what did you mean it 'feels kind of strange'?"

Scorpious frowns. "I'm not sure, exactly. I can just sense some kind of magic around it. I'm not entirely sure it's good magic, either. Just be careful, okay?"

I nod, and motion to my essay. "I'm not sure why you're here and not with Katz, but I have to write this, so if you wouldn't mind…" I let my sentence trail off as I return to work. Scorpious takes the hint and wanders away. If not for the current mystery of the diary at hand, I'd be wondering why he wasn't with Katie. But I have bigger things to spend my time thinking about, like the diary and this essay, which is on gilliweed and its uses.

I'm not particularly skilled in Herbology, so the essay takes a long time. It's almost curfew by the time I return to the dungeons and slip back up to my room, unnoticed by Albus, Katie and Scorpious, who had obviously returned to the common room long before I had. He's now snuggled up on the couch with Katie, and for some unexplainable reason the sight makes me feel sick.

I'm glad to see none of my roommates are here yet. I'm not in the mood to put up with their sidelong glances and witty quips. Sitting cross-legged on my bed, I pull out my quill and the diary. For some reason I feel like it belongs to me now. I'm not sure why, because it clearly doesn't. But that doesn't stop me from dipping my quill into the ink and putting it to the page. I'm not sure what to write yet though.

A single drop of ink escapes from the tip of the quill and splats onto the page. I groan, and reach for my wand to clean it off. Trust me to make a mess of the first page without even trying. Then I gasp. The drop of ink is dissolving into the page. Frantically, I flip the page, but there is nothing on the other side. The ink has vanished completely!

A sudden thought hits me and I remember reading somewhere about diaries that can talk back to their owners. They're harmless, the book said, as long as you're careful.

Picking up the quill once more, I lean forward, impatiently brushing my long red hair out of my face.

Hello. I write. My name is Rose Weasley.

A tingle of excitement runs through me as the ink slowly dissolves into the page and I watch, transfixed. Then I see writing appear just underneath where mine had vanished. Catching my breath, I read the words that are being written by an invisible hand.

Hello Rose. My name is Tom Riddle.

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-Badger Xx