First day of school, Potions office

-This day is not going well. I woke up early this morning to the most annoying birdsong ever. Then I got here and discovered my storeroom in a horrible mess. And today is the first day of school. Dear Salazar, shall I have a rough year. Drat. I must head towards the Great Hall and endure the abominal sorting yet again. But...perhaps I might see her again. The one for whom I long, the one who must be the reincarnation of a woman long gone. Ah, I must hurry!

Great Hall, Opening feast

- Oh Grindlewald! She is as beautiful as ever. But—Potter--is talking and laughing with her! Oh bloody horcruxes! Curse this aging body!

First day of classes, 5th year Potions

-Her class is about to start. I do hope no other bloody Gryffindors cause trouble today.

BANG!

Snape whirled around from his journal in the storeroom and swept back into his classroom where he had the 5th years simmering the Draught of Desire. "WHO has the GALL to disrupt my class, ESPECIALLY on the first day of my year of MISERY teaching you DUNDERHEADS?!" His piercing gaze swept around his classroom and landed on a certain, smoking, red-headed girl sitting in the middle row in front of a burnt cauldron.

"Miss Weasley! Please explain why you have so kindly disrupted the peace and quiet of my class?" he said menacingly through his teeth, hoping his eyes wouldn't give him away. Or the cursed beating of his frantic shell of a heart.

Ginny Weasley looked down, avoiding the eyes that were boring through her, ignoring the snickers coming from the Slytherin half of the room. "I-I'm sorry Professor. I think I might have brewed the wrong amount of unicorn hairs."

Snape glided over to her cauldron and bent down, observing the charred remains. As he bent over a little, a small breeze blew in from under the door, and he caught a whiff of the flowery scent of Ginny's shampoo amid the smell of burnt hair. His heart beat faster, and he had to restrain himself from pressing his face into her hair and breathing deeply.

He promptly straightened up, a faint tinge to his cheeks. "It turns out you did not add the spider milk after stirring counterclockwise 15 times. 5 points from Gryffindor." He wanted to give her detention too, so he could have the pleasure of having her alone with him for the evening, but that was a little too much. He hastily retreated back into the storeroom and took deep breaths.

What seemed like an eternity later, the bell rang and the 5th years gathered up their things and headed for the door. As Ginny headed for the door, Markus Nossrell of Slytherin crept up behind her, and tugged on a lock of burnt black hair.

"What a fine head of hair you have! Keep using this product and pretty soon your hair'll be as black as Potter's! I'm sure he'll notice you then!" Snape clenched and unclenched his hands behind them.

Ginny spun around and let loose a string of profanities that she could have learned from none other than Fred, George, and Ron. Snape pounced at the chance.

"Detention, Miss Weasley. 7:00, my office." Ginny gritted her teeth, turned, and left. Markus waited a moment, grinning, then followed. Snape fought the urge to leap for joy.

-I do believe I have detention with her this evening! It's almost like a date!

Oh dear Merlin. Detention already. I'm starting to take after Fred and George. Ginny Weasley made her way towards the library, where she was sure she would find Hermione, first day of school as it was. As she walked through the halls, her ears started to burn and her face flushed almost as red as her hair underneath the coat of soot as she listened to the snickers and snide comments that followed her.

"Bad hair day Weasel-girl?"

"Nice taste in highlights!"

"What's with the new makeup?"

Relieved, Ginny slipped into the library and spotted Hermione in the far corner poring over a large book that was no doubt Hogwarts, A History. Again.

"Hermione!"

The bushy-haired 6th year looked up at her friend's voice, and gasped in shock. Ginny's face and the hair framing it was black, and she had a smoky smell around her. Her robes around her shoulders were smoking and tattered.

"What happened to you?!" Ginny sighed, moved a stack of books from a chair, dragged it to Hermione and sat down, wiping at her face with her robes.

"Potions disaster. We were making the Draught of Desire and I forgot to add the spider milk after stirring and instead went ahead and put in the essence of centaur sweat. Not a good idea. I'll need to write mum for a new cauldron."

"Oh no!" Hermione exclaimed. "What did Snape do?"

"Deducted 5 points from Gryffindor. I was surprised. But then when I was leaving, Markus Nossrell started teasing me. And I couldn't do nothing! So I...copied Fred and George's language." Ginny flushed darker. "So now I have detention tonight."

Ginny gave up on her robes and started to stand up to go to the girls' room to wash off, then stopped. "Um, Hermione?"

"Hmm?"

"You don't suppose you could do anything about...you know...my hair?" Hermione stood up and took out her wand.

"Of course!" she pointed her wand at Ginny's burnt locks and muttered a few choice words. In a flash, her hair was back to normal, and fell neatly around her face and down to her shoulder blades. In another minute, her robes were also repaired and straightened. Now the only thing left was her face.

"Thanks Hermione! I owe you one!" Ginny picked up her bag and rushed out towards the girls' room.

She was concentrating on the floor as she ran, trying not to let anyone see her face when she promptly ran into someone and fell to the floor.

"Ow!" Ginny, rubbing her head, looked up into the vivid green eyes of Harry Potter. Her ears grew bright red, and she couldn't make herself look away.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked, concerned. "I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention." he held out a hand and helped her up. Ginny noticed with a flush of pleasure that he didn't let go. "Uh, no, it's my fault. I wasn't looking where I was going." He peered at her. "What happened to your face? It's all black." He reached out and brushed a thumb along her cheek. Ginny repressed shivers of pleasure.

"Uh...Uh..." He had started stroking her cheek with the back of his hand, brushing off the soot from the explosion. "Um...S-Snape..." Why was it so hard to think? He stopped suddenly. "Snape?" She resisted the urge to pout, not welcoming the sudden clarity of her mind.

"I was in potions and forgot an ingredient. The cauldron blew up in respond. My hair and robes were worse, but Hermione helped me out." her breath caught in her throat as he grinned. "B-but after class Markus Nossrell teased me. So I kinda mouthed him off and received detention." Watching his face, she didn't notice his hand curling into a fist at his side at the mention of Markus. She grinned. "I'm going to have to write mum for a new cauldron after I clean this off my face," her smile dimmed. "I'm worried about if we can afford it..." she blushed, something she seemed to be doing often lately. Harry's eyes softened and his jaw relaxed.

"I can pay for one," he offered. Ginny shook her head. "Oh, I don't want you to have to do that, I'm sure we can..." she trailed off as Harry gazed at her intensely. "Please, I want to do this for you."

For you...

"Uh...are you sure you want to?"

"Yes. I'll have the order sent by this afternoon, promise." He put a hand on her shoulder and her knees weakened. "Don't get into any more trouble till then, ok?" he grinned and with a final squeeze of her shoulder, left. Ginny sighed happily, then continued towards the girls' room, a new spring in her step.