Author's Note: It has been five years since I have posted anything here on … and though I have many dusty half finished stories, this is the first story featuring Draco and Ginny that I have actually been able to finish. My best friend Nostawen Allesiel inspired me to write this little piece, it is a one shot. I remember what she said to me too, "What would you write about Ginny and Draco with the word "Bittersweet"? Then she told me that there is something called Japanese Bittersweet… and the rest they say, is History. Please remember that it has been quite a long time since I have posted and be kind in your reviews… I remain an avid fan of Draco and Ginny, *waves the flag for Draco and Ginny!* even if that's not how J.K. decided to make it.
A very special thanks to Natasha, my best friend and constant inspiration. ("Shouldn't you be writing?")
Disclaimer: No profit intended just some fun.
Bittersweet
Malfoy perched upon a stool in the semi-dark potion lab pouring over countless ancient books. Muttering to himself, as he switched between the many reference tomes before him.
"Bittersweet," he said as his fingers skimmed down the index of one particularly large book, "bittersweet?" He repeated, absently. When he didn't find the item he was hunting madly for, he cussed and slammed the dusty cover closed.
"Something evading you, Malfoy?" a voice asked.
Draco Malfoy turned in his seat and saw Ginny Weasley standing in the doorway of the potions lab. He looked her over, noting that she was clad in blue flannel pajama pants and a white long sleeve t-shirt, her toes wrapped in blue fuzzy slippers. He noticed, with a smirk, that her trademark red hair was pulled back into a low pony tail, giving the Gryffindor a decidedly mussed look.
"What do you want Weasley?" He turned back to the books in front of him looking once more completely overwhelmed.
"I don't want anything, but if you are in a giving mood, you could refrain from slamming another book." Her flat tone made him look up once more. She was massaging her neck and her face was flushed, one could easily guess that she didn't feel well. Inwardly, he shrugged and went back to looking up the information for the blasted assignment that was due in a mere twelve hours.
Walking passed Malfoy, the red-head moved through the room as if she was asleep, or had done the same task many times before. Reaching the store cupboard, she whispered a password and pulled open the two doors, reaching in to carefully pull bottle after bottle towards her to scrutinize, searching for the particulars she needed.
After about a dozen bottles she sighed. Feeling woozy she quickly took a seat near the cupboard and put her head in her hands. Migraines were the bane of Ginny's existence. It was difficult to function clearly in order to make a draught which would relieve the pain, pressure, and nausea she felt when afflicted by this condition. The malady made vision a mere memory, what with the way the tiniest illumination could send the hammers in your temples pounding with renewed fervor, and the room she currently was habituating with a well known Slytherin git was anything but as dim as she would have liked. Breathing through the increased somersaulting in her abdomen, she passed clammy palms along her brow, hiding herself in darkness while concentrating on the slow inhale and exhale of her lungs.
Finally, believing herself able to go on with the task at hand, she got up once more and perused the little containers, hoping to find what was listed on her piece of parchment. Reclaiming her post in front of the shelves, she resumed her hunt, a scowl of discomfort marking her brow. The queasiness that wouldn't stop gave her new determination to obtain what was needed to make the elixir, pained eyes quickly scanning every label she came into contact with. In her haste she dropped a bottle of lavender, the shards and herb outlining her right foot.
"Bloody hell!" She yelped.
"What are you doing, Weasley, trying to blow us up or something?! What if that had been wolfs bane or an ingredient which was equally unstable instead of lavender?"
Grinding her teeth as his usually calm tones grated on her ears as though he was yelling, she clenched her hands into fists at her sides and hissed out, "Please, lower your voice, Malfoy. I am trying to get what I need and finish brewing it before I lose a fight with my migraine."
"Oh for pity sake, why don't you just go to the hospital wing and have Madame Pomphrey give you a draught instead of trying to make one yourself?" His voice sounded much more exasperated than concerned which for Malfoy was something, considering his usual tone was disdain.
"Because, you obnoxious git! I am allergic to the premade concoctions that Pomphrey gives to us. Plus, I'd rather not have hives on top of my brain deciding it's too big for my skull before trying to commit suicide by flopping out on the stone floor." Gifting him with an angered stare, Ginny crumpled her list in her hand unknowingly in her ire. "So, if you'd please be quiet I promise not to drop anything dangerous."
Mumbling to herself, she let out an irate, 'Blast!' as she vainly tried to smooth out the damaged paper, grumbling as she focused her attention on the cupboard once more. After a few moments, she found one of the many objects she was searching for, pulling it from the shelves to place it delicately on the work surface to her right before rummaging around again.
After numerous failed attempts to locate the final ingredients, her shoulders slouched in misery, frustrated tears pricking her aching eyes as she despondently perched on a vacant stool, fisting her bound hair in her hands as she did. "Bloody hell," she whispered miserably.
Draco, finding his patience had worn thin and finally snapped at the red-head's continued bitchery, let out a long-suffering sigh as he stood and made his way towards her. Snatching the list from her slack hand where she had pressed it into her hair along with her fingers, he scanned the contents of messy black scrawl, arching a brow at the nearly illegible words. Deciphering what he noted was Professor Snape's penmanship should win him a medal in code breaking.
Ambling over to the shelves which had given her so much grief, he began requisitioning the items with annoying ease, lining them up in military precision pertaining to their importance in the potion needed. Reading the instructions at the bottom, he then procured a class cauldron of medium build, taking it over to place it atop the fire he lit under its black underside; adding the correct amounts with a confidence that made the woman peaking at him from the corners of her eyes a little wary. Though he might be an accomplished potions student, this was her body that would be ingesting it, and she would be lying if she didn't admit to a spark of unease growing at his antics. Soon a smoky vapor arose from the bubbling liquid, the Slytherin stirring it carefully, grey eyes intent on his work.
"You're actually making the potion on the paper, right?" Taking note of his perplexed gaze, she added quickly, "I mean, you aren't trying to put me out of your misery instead of mine by killing me off or something?" Her voice was barely audible, it took a lot of effort to not throw up, and speaking was almost too much for her. Ginny's face suddenly went stark white and the room rolled around her. "oy."
"For pity's sake! I'm not going to off you, weasel! I'd have too much of a mess to clean up afterwards and I'd much rather not have to deal with sullying my attire, thank you." The haughty smirk he gave her would have had her in a high dudgeon if she didn't feel so poorly, the best she could off an annoyed growl. "Besides, I still have that stupid assignment of Snape's to complete and I don't have time to listen to a whining female distract me with her theatrics." He paused a moment to turn back to the headache medicine, stirring the contents just so while adding, "Japanese Bittersweet is becoming the stuff of nightmares with how damnably hard it is to find the bloody thing. Every time I try to look up the blasted plant I get something about chocolate." His thin lips sneered as he muttered to himself, "Like I don't already know Bittersweet is a variation of chocolate."
"Japanese Bittersweet is in the Solanum dulcamara family. Its closest relations are; Nightshade and Belladonna, which is also known as Deadly Nightshade. An antidote for Belladonna is physostigmine or pilocarpine. If you want I can help you since you are making my potion for me…" Ginny let her thought trail off. Malfoy was looking at her as if she had two heads. "What? You think I'd be able to make that potion on basic potions levels? I've been in advanced class for four years now."
Ginny remembered it as if it were yesterday: her first year had been a complete and utter failure, she had almost died and the boy she liked had saved her. One would think that this would be the beginning, but for Ginny it was rather like a false start.
She had been in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts for weeks after the event, and every time poor Madame Pomphrey would give her a potion to help with one of the primary things ailing her, Ginny would break out in hives. No matter what the medi-witch tried, Ginny would get sicker and sicker. After many weeks of the endless cycle, Madame Pomphrey enlisted the help of Severus Snape. Professor Snape had never seen a case like Ginny's. Of course, it was perfectly normal for people whether Muggle or Wizard to be allergic to an item, it just wasn't seen very often, and when it was seen it was something mundane like a peanut allergy.
After that, Professor Snape had told Ginny that she would be receiving extra Potions lessons everyday and that he would teach her to make the basic medical formulas. When Snape found out that Ginny also suffered from disabling Migraines he taught her to make the potion that Malfoy was currently working on.
"You are in Advanced Potions?" Malfoy shook his head, he wasn't sure if he should be appalled that the littlest Weasley could out-potions him, or whether he was slightly impressed. Either way, he gaped at her. "There is no such class. I should know I help Snape with all of his classes"
"You do not; you have another class right after your potions lab. Don't you?" Ginny paused and waited for Malfoy nod in agreement before adding, "My class is right after yours. There is only a few of us from my year who are skilled enough to be in advanced, so you probably wouldn't even notice two or three students walking in as you were leaving."
Thinking on this, Draco swished his hand and made the flame under the caldron extinguish. He then took a ladle and poured out a dose for Weasley. Handing it to her he watched as she sniffed at it.
"I didn't poison you, Weasel." He said dryly. "That's not really my style anyways."
"I wasn't sniffing it to see if you had poisoned me, I was making sure it was done. This potion has a sweet smell when it's finished, kind of like sugar water. Although, it doesn't taste anything like sugar water." Mumbling the last part Ginny took the medicine like one would take a shot of alcohol; quickly. Frowning Ginny put her head down once more, as Malfoy went back over to the table he was working at before he had decided to help the ailing female.
After about three minutes she sighed and lifted her head. "Better. Not completely gone, but a manageable thumping none the less."
Malfoy had gone back to looking through two very large books, listening with half an ear to the witch as his frustration for his situation grew. "I looked up Nightshade but there is no mention of Bittersweet. Are you just sending me off on a wild tangent so that I can't finish my assignment?"
Ginny hoped off the stool she was perched on and walked over to where Malfoy was working. Trying to pull the potions book from Malfoy was like trying to release a trap that had already been sprung. "Oof, Malfoy, let me see your potions book you big git!"
Malfoy released the book and Ginny stumbled back, with another "oof". Flipping though the book, Ginny found the chapter she was hunting for with surprising quickness. Laying the book in front of the fair haired ferret, she pointed to a picture of Bittersweet; which also had about two pages of information on the plant. Seeing that his search was over he stared blankly at the page for a moment. All he had to do now, was answer the question on the assignment could Japanese Bittersweet be a substitution for any other potion ingredient?
"Consider my help with your assignment thanks for your help with my potion." Ginny said as she walked to the door.
Ginny's words hit Draco sometime after the room had grown quiet. She had helped him because he had helped her. It's not like the potion had been difficult. Unless, of course, one was afflicted with something which made sight a bit of an issue. If one could not see to read properly, then it would make creating a potion very difficult. Draco stared at the door Ginny had passed through moments before. He wondered if he would see the red-headed troublemaker again, or if this had been an isolated event.