Harry Potter:

Diseases Desperate Grown

By Jelsemium

For the PhoenixSong

"Summer Lovin' Teenage Angst Challenge"

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters. I am not trying to make a profit.

Thanks to Calixa for her excellent Beta-reading!

This is A/U, basically set in the summer after Harry's 4th year. Not at all related to the "Harry Situation" universe.

Chapter One: The Patient

Arthur Weasley's workshop was private, which was its only charm, being even more cluttered than Ginny's room and more cramped than The Burrow. However, the shed was far enough from The Burrow to be private, so the youngest Weasleys had commandeered it for The Great Anniversary Project. It had all the equipment they needed to polish the bronze frame of their parent's anniversary present.

The main drawback of the workshop was that the windows were blocked with various Muggle devices that were supposed to cool the air inside. They may have worked for Muggles; all they did after Arthur Weasley got through with them was block any stray breeze.

"Not that there's been any of those lately," Ginny sighed. She stretched and shrugged off her light summer robe and flung it over the back of a chair before going back to polishing.

"Uh, Ginny, aren't you a bit under-dressed?" said Ron, trying to cover his sister.

Ginny pushed him away. "Honestly, Ron, "It's so hot you could cook a Hungarian Horntail out there!" She looked down at her outfit. She was wearing denim shorts that touched her knees and a sleeveless blouse that might have possibly been blue when her mother was in nappies. "What's wrong with this outfit, anyway?"

"It shows too much skin!" Ron complained. To push his point across, he dropped Ginny's robe on the floor and plucked an ice cube from the bowl he was carrying and slid it down the back of her blouse.

"RON!" Ginny shrieked. She jumped up and did an impromptu war dance until she dislodged the ice. She glared at Ron, swearing under her breath that if he laughed, he'd be picking spiders out of his bed for a week.

Ron was frowning, though. "Honestly, Ginny, what if somebody saw you?"

"Ron, the Burrow isn't exactly the Leaky Cauldron. We don't get many visitors. There's nobody here to see me except family… all of whom are fond of reminding me how I used to run around starkers in weather like this!"

"Well, don't run around without clothes today, Harry's coming," Ron announced.

Ginny's eyes widened. "Now?"

"This evening," Ron said. "Moody and Remus are picking him up when the Dursleys aren't looking."

Ginny snorted and went back to work. "And this means I have to get overdressed now and risk heat stroke exactly why? Even if he arrived now, he won't see me until I leave the workshop."

Ron picked up another ice cube.

Ginny's eyes narrowed and the words 'Bat Bogey hex' slid out of her mouth.

Ron hastily replaced the ice.

"What's the ice for?" Ginny asked, eyeing the bowl warily.

"Watch and learn," Ron said loftily. He put the bowl down. Then he pulled a few 'batteries' out of a pocket and placed them in the back of one of their father's gadgets.

"Is this actually going to work?" Ginny asked skeptically.

"Hermione sent these batteries, plus instructions on how to make them work this 'fan'," Ron said proudly. "She also told me about the ice trick." He flicked a switch and the blades began to move. A breeze sprang up from nowhere. He placed the bowl of ice in front of the 'fan' and the breeze became a cool breeze.

"Ah, relief from the heat!" Ginny said gratefully. "Hermione's a genius. You have good taste in girlfriends."

"She's not my girlfriend," Ron grunted. He picked up a rag and started polishing.

"Don't get any on the glass," Ginny warned.

"Why not?"

"Because the recipe says not to," Ginny sighed.

They polished in companionable silence for several minutes.

"She'd never be interested in me, anyway," Ron blurted.

"I know something that might help," Ginny teased.

Ron eyed her warily. "What are you on about?"

Ginny dropped her polishing cloth, wiped her hand on a clean rag and held up a book. Its cover was tattered, the spine was cracked, the pages were worn and there were scraps of paper, parchment and cloth peeking out at various angles.

"What's that?" Ron asked.

"It's Mum's recipe book," Ginny explained. She flipped her wrist around, causing assorted colored scraps to drip out. "This is where I got the polish recipe from. Mum was so distracted with something she was working on for the Order; I think she forgot that there were more things than polishes, soups and home remedies in here."

Absently, Ron wiped off his hand and picked up the nearest scrap. It was the newspaper clipping that showed their family after his father had won the 700 galleons. He put that down and picked up the next scrap.

"Fred, gold, George, scarlet?" he read, voice that rose a bit with incredulity.

Ginny plucked out a matching scrap. "Apparently, she used to dye them when they were babies so she could tell them apart." She held the scrap up so Ron could read it.

Ron shook his head and picked up a piece of greenish vellum. "And I thought the twins got it from Dad," he said. He frowned and read, "Eye of newt, toe of frog?"

"That's a quote from Shakespeare, not part of a recipe," Ginny said.

Ron shot her a sour look. "MacBeth," he informed her. He flipped through the other scraps. "So, what's here that will help me with Hermione? A formula to make me smarter than a Ravenclaw prefect? Some recipe that will change the colour of my hair, get rid of my freckles, or increase the size of my… Gringotts' account?"

"Love potions."

Ron gaped. "You can't be serious. Mum would never let us look at…"

"I told you, Mum was distracted when she said I could use this," Ginny said.

She pulled out a handful of paper. She waved a scrap of red paper under Ron's nose. "Here's one that's supposed to make the drinkers' love last forever."

She put it back. "But you have to already be in love." She picked out a purple sheet that had suspicious brown spots on it. "This one is guaranteed to ignite fiery passion and produce two or three children on the first … erm …"

"Never mind," Ron said hastily. "This is silly, Ginny. I want… I don't want… never mind, what's this?" He snatched a pink sheet out of Ginny's hand. "Faith, Hope and Love?"

Ginny took it back. "Yep, this is a classic. It will not only make the drinker love the first person she… or he… sees after drinking. It will induce trust, too. This could be just what you need."

"Ginny," Ron said warningly.

"Most of the ingredients are perfectly legal and can be found in the kitchen, or our student potion kits."

"Ginny!"

"I bet the twins could get us the rest of them."

"Ginny. Just. Polish."

Ginny grinned at him and resumed polishing.