A Concerned Mentor

Instead of participating in their discussions, Ron was stuffing his face as if he thought he never would see food again. At least this time he was showing some proper manners and not trying to talk with food in his mouth. And he was actually chewing his food as well!

Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Luna were on one side of the table with the wall to their back and keeping the Slytherin Table in sight, while Neville sat across from them. To Gilderoy's amusement, Susan Bones and her best friend Hannah Abbott had bracketed Neville between them. Gilderoy would do his part to ensure that that romance had a decent chance. He was pleased to note that several other students were sitting with friends from other Houses.

He passed them and headed towards the table's end, where Ginny Weasley sat picking at her food. The other Firsties were nearby, but none appeared to be engaged in conversation with her. If he didn't know better, he would have thought they were shunning the girl. They weren't, she had rebuffed their attempts to include her several times over the last few weeks. He stopped at the end of the table and turned around to look at the Headmaster's table. He stared intently at Professor McGonagall, knowing she would pick up on the 'I'm looking at you' feeling.

Sure enough, less than a minute passed before she looked up at him. He smiled and tilted his head to the side, motioning that he wanted her to join him. She stared back a moment, frowned, and stood. As she headed across the hall, he looked down at Ginny, still smiling his perfect smile. Ginny was already looking at him, wondering why he had stopped beside her and yet said nothing.

"Miss Weasley," he said cheerily, "You look a bit tired. Have you been getting enough sleep?"

Surprised he had noticed the dark marks under her eyes, she said, "Yes, sir. I don't know why I feel so tired this morning."

"Are you eating well?" he asked in concern.

"Yes sir, but I don't have much appetite this morning."

The nearby girls were listening enviously. If only Gilderoy would talk with them! The boys were trying to ignore him.

"Hm. Perhaps you should see Madam Pomfrey today to make sure you aren't coming down with something. If you aren't feeling well, you shan't appreciate my class as much as you could. I would be truly disappointed if you didn't get the full benefit of my wondrous intellect and experiences." He radiated a genuine feeling of wanting to help the girl.

Professor McGonagall was almost to his side.

"Tell me, Miss Weasley, do you keep a diary?"

The girl stiffened and a frightened look briefly appeared on her face. "Uh, yes, sir."

"Very good! I find that keeping a diary — well, actually, Wizards like to call them journals, sounds more manly, don't you know — anyway, I find keeping a daily journal helps me organize my thoughts." He smiled at her benevolently. "It's ever so useful to be able to go back weeks, months, or years, and see exactly what I was doing or thinking on a certain day. It helps bring clarity to my decisions." And helps combat any attempts at someone meddling with his mind in the future, he didn't say out loud. He looked at her, waiting for a response. Several of the girls within earshot, he saw, were asking their friends if they had a diary to spare.

Not knowing what else to say, she said, "Um, yes, sir." She was still on guard, though.

"Do you keep your diary with you, my dear?"

She frowned, "Yes, sir. It's in my bag."

"Wonderful!" he exclaimed. He had been afraid that today she might have left it in her dorm room. That would have delayed things and wouldn't have been as dramatic. "I find that keeping my journal at hand is a marvellous way to jot down the day's events when I have a few spare moments, instead of trying to remember everything just before I retire for my nightly beauty sleep." He smiled at her. "A well-rested Wizard is a well-prepared Wizard, don't you know? Or Witch I should say, I suppose." His smile beamed down at her.

He glanced at Professor McGonagall standing beside him. She was annoyed that he had called her over and seemed to be ignoring her. He leaned close and whispered in her ear, "Watch her carefully." He glanced around. At least half the Gryffindor table was watching, with a substantial portion of the other Houses doing so as well. Percy was walking down the aisle towards them, no doubt concerned for his sister. The twins were standing and watching.

He pulled out his wand with a flourish and said, "Accio Ginny's diary."

Her eyes shot wide open and she made a belated grab for her bag as it rustled. A thin black book with gold-coloured corner protectors flew up in front of Gilderoy. Gilderoy held it suspended in front of him and slowly rotated it.

"Hm," he said, "purchased from Winstanley's Bookstore & Stationers, an establishment on Vauxhall Road, London. That's a Muggle firm, how did you ever find this book? And what's this name, here?" He stopped the rotation and said loudly, "Tom Riddle?"

He looked up at the Headmaster's table to see the old Wizard walking quickly around the end of that table. He wasn't wasting any time in getting here.

He looked down at the little Witch. She was staring up at him in horror and he could see the sheen of sweat on her face. The poor girl was terrified!

"Really now, Professor Lockhart, return Miss Ginny's property at once. You have no right to see something so private!" said McGonagall, outraged at his presumption.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Minerva, because this book is possessed by the vilest magic you can imagine. Can't you feel it?"

She jerked her attention from him to the book.

As Ginny started to jump up to grab the book, Gilderoy cast a silent stupefy on the girl with his free hand, dropping her back in her seat where she slumped forward beside her plate, which he magically moved aside. He magically guided her collapse subtly with his left hand until it appeared she was hiding her face in her arms on the table, and not knocked out.

The Transfiguration professor stared at the book, then pulled her wand and cast a strong detection spell at it. The book momentarily disappeared in an inky black cloud. She took a startled step back. "My word!" she exclaimed. She turned her shocked gaze to him.

The upper year students close enough to understand what was going on gasped and moved back, pulling their less informed mates with them.

The Headmaster arrived just then, staring at the diary in disbelief.

Gilderoy said, loudly and reproachfully, "I told you, did I not, Headmaster, that there was a vile Dark Artefact being paraded in the Halls? Well, here it is. The exact same magic that possessed Ravenclaw's Diadem." He could see the Headmaster eyes widen in surprise.

.....

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