Chapter 1
Ginny Weasley ambled languidly through the hallways of Hogwarts that Monday morning. Her eyes drooped with fatigue. She had been up half of the night finishing the homework that had been assigned the previous week. Streams of sunlight penetrated the glass, heralding a new day. The young redhead was well aware that she was going to be about five minutes late to Professor Snape's class. Perhaps if she walked a bit slower, she wouldn't have to attend his class at all. Of course, this would get her a detention, which she didn't want at all.
Being half asleep as she was, she failed to see the door leading to the dungeon corridors, and fell to the ground after rebounding from it. Her books scattered all around her and she flinched with pain as she got up and quickly gathered her things. After a huge yawn, she opened the door and a cold draft of air blew against her body. Her Gryffindor robes, tatty and frayed as one would expect of the Weasleys, did little to shield her from this icy blast. Walking through the dungeon corridors was always tricky and quite eerie at night, but since it was morning, she had little trouble, and was able to reach Professor Snape's classroom on time.
Upon entering the dusty dungeon where Snape taught potions, Ginny made a cursory glance at her noisy classmates and rolled her eyes. None of them even noticed she had arrived. It seemed as if no one her age even wanted to be her friend. Shaking her head sadly, she took a seat near the back and stared at the empty blackboard at the front of the room. Stifling a very small sigh, she wished that someone would acknowledge her existence. No one ever did. They always glanced at her quickly, and just as quickly looked away, as if she fascinated yet repulsed them. She had suffered a bad reputation after her first year at Hogwarts, when she had inadvertently opened the Chamber of Secrets and unleashed the creature within. She had been under Voldemort's control, of course. It appeared that none of the people in her year wanted to be friends with the girl that had almost brought ruin to Hogwarts. Only those in the higher years wished to associate with her on their own initiative. Ginny felt herself nodding off once more, but was rudely awoken shortly after her eyes had closed.
The door to the classroom slammed open, and Ginny jolted straight up while the room grew eerily silent, as it always did when Snape entered. Heads turned to see him rushing angrily into the classroom. He swiftly turned around, his cold black eyes peering at them with barely suppressed fury, his greasy, untidy hair looking even more disheveled than usual. His cloak billowed as he paced back and forth, appearing to be in deep thought. After a few moments, he stopped beside his desk, and his lips curled into a sneer.
"I trust that you have all had busy weekends, working hard on the essay you were assigned," he said in his usual silky tone with a hint of sarcasm, "I will collect them now. Anyone found to be...lacking..." he looked at Ginny, "will fail."
The sound of shuffling parchment echoed through the classroom as everyone gathered their essays. Snape sauntered down the rows of desks, collecting the papers from the students. Ginny looked at her neatly written essay, hoping that Snape wouldn't embarrass her like he usually did. She heard his approaching footsteps, and handed him the roll of parchment without glancing up. It was brutally snatched out of her hands, and she gave a little gasp of shock as she looked up to see Snape walking back to the front of the classroom. A hint of a blush began in her cheeks as several students turned to look at her. The redhead buried her face in her hands and only emerged when the professor started speaking.
"Most of you should be able to take the test that I have prepared for you today. There are fifty questions pertaining to all the potions that we have concocted this year. As usual you will be using quills with an anti- cheating charm. Anyone found to be using magical aids will be immediately removed from my class, with a detention and severe deduction of house points. I will be expecting a standard not unlike that of your O.W.Ls last year." So saying, he picked up the stack of papers lying atop his desk and passed them out, one by one. No one dared to make a sound as he made his way through the class once more. Returning once more to the front, he addressed the terrified students.
"You have one hour to finish. Begin." With that, the students turned their papers over and began looking through the test. They were lengthy questions and difficult enough to make even the brightest student tear their hair out in frustration. Ginny rested her head in her hand and stared at her test, willing the questions to make some sort of sense. After about half an hour of trying to decipher the deliberately cryptic questions, she gave up. Only half of them were answered and she wasn't even sure if those were correct. She was much too tired to cudgel her brain for answers. Her head slid from her hand and gently hit the table as she slowly succumbed to sleep, her flaming red hair falling over her face.
Professor Snape looked up from the book he was leafing through as the bell rang for the end of class. "Time is up. Place your papers on my desk and leave." All of the students except Ginny stood up, shuffled nervously to the front and placed their tests on Snape's desk, avoiding his gaze. The Potions master looked back at his book as the students filed out of the classroom, no doubt discussing the questions and worrying over their results.
Snape closed his book and placed it back on his desk. As he strode towards the door, he saw Ginny out of the corner of his eye, asleep at her desk. He glared at the sixth year student as he made his way to her desk. Her chest rose and fell slowly as she breathed, her expression peaceful in her sleep.
"How terribly adorable." he sneered. Ginny jolted awake at the sound of the Professor's voice. How she slept through the racket the others made as they left she didn't know, but she knew with a sinking feeling in her stomach that was the least of her worries. Her cheeks turned bright red as her eyes met the Professor's. She had never contemplated sleeping in Potions, as she knew perfectly well she would get punished for it.
"I will not accept students sleeping in my classes, Miss Weasley. Such juvenile behavior I might expect from a first year, but I would have thought you were old enough to know better. Fifty points will be deducted from Gryffindor and you will come to my office at eight o'clock tonight so that we can discuss your detention. Now get out of my sight." Snape's eyes bored into her own as he relayed her punishment. Ginny felt trapped by the intensity of his stare and her eyes filled with tears, which started streaming down her face. She felt so ashamed about falling asleep in class, and it was even worse that the class was Snape's. She hadn't had a detention for a long time. The previous one had been awkward and she tried to forget the memory of the foreboding stare he had given her the whole time.
Standing up, she gathered all her things and handed the Professor her test paper. Holding back a whimper, she turned to go, but his voice stopped her cold.
"Remember, Miss Weasley. Eight o'clock. If you are late, I will see to it that your busy sleeping schedule is filled with more detentions." Relieved that it was finally over, at least for now, Ginny left the room.
Outside the stifling cold of the classroom, she leaned against the wall and cursed to herself, her voice cracked and broken as she tried not to cry. "Damn it, Ginny. Why do you do this to yourself? That's the second time this has happened. You were bloody lucky that you didn't get dropped from the class." She slid down the wall and burst into tears, unable to hold them back any longer. Why couldn't Snape be nice for once? He always seemed to have it in for students, her and other Gryffindors in particular. The door opened swiftly and Professor Snape rushed out, heading towards his office. She muttered a curse at him and dragged herself to her feet.
Snape heard what she said, but ignored it for the moment. Perhaps he would punish her for it tonight, just to make her a little more miserable. He turned back for a moment to look at her before entering his office. He grinned slightly as he planned a most detestable detention for that evening.
The Gryffindor sauntered by Professor Snape's office on the way out of the dungeon corridors. She had no idea what was in store for her that evening or for days to come. A sullen look washed over her face as she made her way through the damp corridors, imagining the pain and suffering that she would have to endure tonight. She knew that many of the students from her house would be upset with her for losing the fifty points, but at least that wouldn't be until they looked at the giant hourglasses that recorded them, so she wouldn't have anything to worry about for a while.
Upon opening the door to the Entrance hall, Ginny heard several voices being carried through the air. She ignored them, as none of them were directed towards her. Carrying on without paying much attention to anyone else, the redhead made her way up the stairs, making her way through the castle to get back to the common room. She tried to keep herself awake along the way, barely succeeding. Sleeping in the middle of the corridor was never a good thing when there were students roaming about. There was a sudden crash beside her and she gasped in fright. Adrenaline rushed through her as she swiftly turned to see what the commotion was.
Peeves the Poltergeist roared with laughter as he soared by her, throwing several water balloons around at everything, including Ginny. One burst right over her head, soaking her hair, bag and robes. Infuriated, she pulled her wand out of the depths of her robes and pointed it at the poltergeist.
"Why can't you just leave me alone, Peeves? Honestly, don't you have anything else that you can be doing?" Her fingers gripped the wand tightly, narrowing her eyes a bit, awaiting a reply. He swooped over her head and threw another balloon at her, narrowly missing as she ran to dodge it. Shaking her head in dismay, Ginny walked away quickly, deciding to avoid him this time. After about a minute of rushing through the corridor and getting away from the receding cackles of the poltergeist, she stopped.
Ginny muttered a drought charm under her breath; sparks flew from her wand, drying her and her things up. Her feet briskly carried her along the corridors, trying to find her way through the twisted corridors of the school. She was lucky that she didn't have another class; otherwise she would have had another detention for falling asleep in that class. A yawn escaped her lips as she finally reached Gryffindor tower, muttering the password to the portrait of the Fat Lady that hung crookedly on the wall.
Finally, she was able to be alone, by herself for a while before the other students came in. Ginny made her way across the room to the comfortable couch and sat down, placing her book bag aside. Lying upon the couch, she stared into the fire, watching the flames dancing in the air and disappearing as quickly as they appeared. Suppressing another yawn, the young girl found herself drifting off into a nice long sleep, filled with many dreams. All thoughts of her upcoming detention drifted from her mind. This was her time to be alone and she just wanted to use it wisely. Soon enough her friends would be there and she could tell them how bad her day had been.
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Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my story. I would just like to thank John and Mel for helping me out with editing this chapter. Without them, I think I would be lost right now. I have two other chapters already completed, but I am fixing them up right now. I will be posting in intervals of three to four days, so look forward to my next chapter as I think it's spectacular! Well, hope to see those reviews coming in!
-Bekka
Ginny Weasley ambled languidly through the hallways of Hogwarts that Monday morning. Her eyes drooped with fatigue. She had been up half of the night finishing the homework that had been assigned the previous week. Streams of sunlight penetrated the glass, heralding a new day. The young redhead was well aware that she was going to be about five minutes late to Professor Snape's class. Perhaps if she walked a bit slower, she wouldn't have to attend his class at all. Of course, this would get her a detention, which she didn't want at all.
Being half asleep as she was, she failed to see the door leading to the dungeon corridors, and fell to the ground after rebounding from it. Her books scattered all around her and she flinched with pain as she got up and quickly gathered her things. After a huge yawn, she opened the door and a cold draft of air blew against her body. Her Gryffindor robes, tatty and frayed as one would expect of the Weasleys, did little to shield her from this icy blast. Walking through the dungeon corridors was always tricky and quite eerie at night, but since it was morning, she had little trouble, and was able to reach Professor Snape's classroom on time.
Upon entering the dusty dungeon where Snape taught potions, Ginny made a cursory glance at her noisy classmates and rolled her eyes. None of them even noticed she had arrived. It seemed as if no one her age even wanted to be her friend. Shaking her head sadly, she took a seat near the back and stared at the empty blackboard at the front of the room. Stifling a very small sigh, she wished that someone would acknowledge her existence. No one ever did. They always glanced at her quickly, and just as quickly looked away, as if she fascinated yet repulsed them. She had suffered a bad reputation after her first year at Hogwarts, when she had inadvertently opened the Chamber of Secrets and unleashed the creature within. She had been under Voldemort's control, of course. It appeared that none of the people in her year wanted to be friends with the girl that had almost brought ruin to Hogwarts. Only those in the higher years wished to associate with her on their own initiative. Ginny felt herself nodding off once more, but was rudely awoken shortly after her eyes had closed.
The door to the classroom slammed open, and Ginny jolted straight up while the room grew eerily silent, as it always did when Snape entered. Heads turned to see him rushing angrily into the classroom. He swiftly turned around, his cold black eyes peering at them with barely suppressed fury, his greasy, untidy hair looking even more disheveled than usual. His cloak billowed as he paced back and forth, appearing to be in deep thought. After a few moments, he stopped beside his desk, and his lips curled into a sneer.
"I trust that you have all had busy weekends, working hard on the essay you were assigned," he said in his usual silky tone with a hint of sarcasm, "I will collect them now. Anyone found to be...lacking..." he looked at Ginny, "will fail."
The sound of shuffling parchment echoed through the classroom as everyone gathered their essays. Snape sauntered down the rows of desks, collecting the papers from the students. Ginny looked at her neatly written essay, hoping that Snape wouldn't embarrass her like he usually did. She heard his approaching footsteps, and handed him the roll of parchment without glancing up. It was brutally snatched out of her hands, and she gave a little gasp of shock as she looked up to see Snape walking back to the front of the classroom. A hint of a blush began in her cheeks as several students turned to look at her. The redhead buried her face in her hands and only emerged when the professor started speaking.
"Most of you should be able to take the test that I have prepared for you today. There are fifty questions pertaining to all the potions that we have concocted this year. As usual you will be using quills with an anti- cheating charm. Anyone found to be using magical aids will be immediately removed from my class, with a detention and severe deduction of house points. I will be expecting a standard not unlike that of your O.W.Ls last year." So saying, he picked up the stack of papers lying atop his desk and passed them out, one by one. No one dared to make a sound as he made his way through the class once more. Returning once more to the front, he addressed the terrified students.
"You have one hour to finish. Begin." With that, the students turned their papers over and began looking through the test. They were lengthy questions and difficult enough to make even the brightest student tear their hair out in frustration. Ginny rested her head in her hand and stared at her test, willing the questions to make some sort of sense. After about half an hour of trying to decipher the deliberately cryptic questions, she gave up. Only half of them were answered and she wasn't even sure if those were correct. She was much too tired to cudgel her brain for answers. Her head slid from her hand and gently hit the table as she slowly succumbed to sleep, her flaming red hair falling over her face.
Professor Snape looked up from the book he was leafing through as the bell rang for the end of class. "Time is up. Place your papers on my desk and leave." All of the students except Ginny stood up, shuffled nervously to the front and placed their tests on Snape's desk, avoiding his gaze. The Potions master looked back at his book as the students filed out of the classroom, no doubt discussing the questions and worrying over their results.
Snape closed his book and placed it back on his desk. As he strode towards the door, he saw Ginny out of the corner of his eye, asleep at her desk. He glared at the sixth year student as he made his way to her desk. Her chest rose and fell slowly as she breathed, her expression peaceful in her sleep.
"How terribly adorable." he sneered. Ginny jolted awake at the sound of the Professor's voice. How she slept through the racket the others made as they left she didn't know, but she knew with a sinking feeling in her stomach that was the least of her worries. Her cheeks turned bright red as her eyes met the Professor's. She had never contemplated sleeping in Potions, as she knew perfectly well she would get punished for it.
"I will not accept students sleeping in my classes, Miss Weasley. Such juvenile behavior I might expect from a first year, but I would have thought you were old enough to know better. Fifty points will be deducted from Gryffindor and you will come to my office at eight o'clock tonight so that we can discuss your detention. Now get out of my sight." Snape's eyes bored into her own as he relayed her punishment. Ginny felt trapped by the intensity of his stare and her eyes filled with tears, which started streaming down her face. She felt so ashamed about falling asleep in class, and it was even worse that the class was Snape's. She hadn't had a detention for a long time. The previous one had been awkward and she tried to forget the memory of the foreboding stare he had given her the whole time.
Standing up, she gathered all her things and handed the Professor her test paper. Holding back a whimper, she turned to go, but his voice stopped her cold.
"Remember, Miss Weasley. Eight o'clock. If you are late, I will see to it that your busy sleeping schedule is filled with more detentions." Relieved that it was finally over, at least for now, Ginny left the room.
Outside the stifling cold of the classroom, she leaned against the wall and cursed to herself, her voice cracked and broken as she tried not to cry. "Damn it, Ginny. Why do you do this to yourself? That's the second time this has happened. You were bloody lucky that you didn't get dropped from the class." She slid down the wall and burst into tears, unable to hold them back any longer. Why couldn't Snape be nice for once? He always seemed to have it in for students, her and other Gryffindors in particular. The door opened swiftly and Professor Snape rushed out, heading towards his office. She muttered a curse at him and dragged herself to her feet.
Snape heard what she said, but ignored it for the moment. Perhaps he would punish her for it tonight, just to make her a little more miserable. He turned back for a moment to look at her before entering his office. He grinned slightly as he planned a most detestable detention for that evening.
The Gryffindor sauntered by Professor Snape's office on the way out of the dungeon corridors. She had no idea what was in store for her that evening or for days to come. A sullen look washed over her face as she made her way through the damp corridors, imagining the pain and suffering that she would have to endure tonight. She knew that many of the students from her house would be upset with her for losing the fifty points, but at least that wouldn't be until they looked at the giant hourglasses that recorded them, so she wouldn't have anything to worry about for a while.
Upon opening the door to the Entrance hall, Ginny heard several voices being carried through the air. She ignored them, as none of them were directed towards her. Carrying on without paying much attention to anyone else, the redhead made her way up the stairs, making her way through the castle to get back to the common room. She tried to keep herself awake along the way, barely succeeding. Sleeping in the middle of the corridor was never a good thing when there were students roaming about. There was a sudden crash beside her and she gasped in fright. Adrenaline rushed through her as she swiftly turned to see what the commotion was.
Peeves the Poltergeist roared with laughter as he soared by her, throwing several water balloons around at everything, including Ginny. One burst right over her head, soaking her hair, bag and robes. Infuriated, she pulled her wand out of the depths of her robes and pointed it at the poltergeist.
"Why can't you just leave me alone, Peeves? Honestly, don't you have anything else that you can be doing?" Her fingers gripped the wand tightly, narrowing her eyes a bit, awaiting a reply. He swooped over her head and threw another balloon at her, narrowly missing as she ran to dodge it. Shaking her head in dismay, Ginny walked away quickly, deciding to avoid him this time. After about a minute of rushing through the corridor and getting away from the receding cackles of the poltergeist, she stopped.
Ginny muttered a drought charm under her breath; sparks flew from her wand, drying her and her things up. Her feet briskly carried her along the corridors, trying to find her way through the twisted corridors of the school. She was lucky that she didn't have another class; otherwise she would have had another detention for falling asleep in that class. A yawn escaped her lips as she finally reached Gryffindor tower, muttering the password to the portrait of the Fat Lady that hung crookedly on the wall.
Finally, she was able to be alone, by herself for a while before the other students came in. Ginny made her way across the room to the comfortable couch and sat down, placing her book bag aside. Lying upon the couch, she stared into the fire, watching the flames dancing in the air and disappearing as quickly as they appeared. Suppressing another yawn, the young girl found herself drifting off into a nice long sleep, filled with many dreams. All thoughts of her upcoming detention drifted from her mind. This was her time to be alone and she just wanted to use it wisely. Soon enough her friends would be there and she could tell them how bad her day had been.
*******************
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my story. I would just like to thank John and Mel for helping me out with editing this chapter. Without them, I think I would be lost right now. I have two other chapters already completed, but I am fixing them up right now. I will be posting in intervals of three to four days, so look forward to my next chapter as I think it's spectacular! Well, hope to see those reviews coming in!
-Bekka