Hey all! I'm back once again. Bet you thought you'd never see me again, huh? Well I am here and I'm once again writing as Wasps Captain. Season seven actually started a few weeks ago but we Wasps had round 1 bye, which means we didn't write. But we're on now, ready to get this started and go!
The task is to either write about a Slytherin displaying Gryffindor traits or a Slytherin and Gryffindor friendship. I chose the friendship one, and decided to write about Ginny and Astoria. Hope you like what I've got here!
Word Count: 1158
Ginny hurried through the halls, desperately hoping she would not arrive to Charms class late. Not that Professor Flitwick would punish her or anything, she just absolutely hated being late.
Skidding through the Charms corridor, she stopped shudderingly in front of the classroom. Taking a breath so she wouldn't be hyperventilating during class, she pushed through and entered.
"Miss Weasley, you cutting it rather close, aren't we?" Flitwick quipped as she searched the room for an empty seat. "We have already paired up for today's lesson on Summoning Charms. You may work with Miss Greengrass."
Ginny scanned the rows of students, eyes landing on her new partner. Astoria Greengrass was sitting in on her own in a row near the back. Ginny was reluctant to go over for a number of reasons. Astoria was a Slytherin, for one thing. Gryffindors and Slytherins never got along. That was an unbreakable rule as far as Ginny was concerned. Another problem was that the Greengrass family had always been known pureblood fanatics, while the Weasleys were firmly opposed to such extremes.
But Ginny finally decided that she could deal with the girl for a class. After all, they would probably never have to do anything together again, and she didn't have a lot of choice. She crossed over to the girl and stood ready to get this partnership over with.
After all the tables were moved aside and some cushions had been set out as the targets for the lesson, Flitwick said, "I want you to summon the cushion to yourself, and then the other person will summon it back. Remember the wand motion, a bit of a flinging forward."
Astoria stood beside the cushion across from Ginny. "Are you ready?" she asked, holding her wand loosely in her hand for when her turn came.
"Sure," Ginny said. Aiming her wand at the cushion beside Astoria, she cast the spell. "Accio!"
It kind of worked. It soared erratically about three-quarters of the way across the room before the enchantment fizzled out and the cushion dropped unceremoniously back to the ground. Ginny groaned as it happened. Just the kind of thing that Astoria would be able to laugh at her about. But she didn't.
"Not good at charms, are you?" Astoria asked. It wasn't teasingly, or mockingly, or any other way that Ginny would have expected. It sounded as if she actually cared about the answer.
"Not really," Ginny muttered as she raised her wand to make the cushion come the rest of the way. Once it was beside her, she continued, "But I can usually accomplish them after a few practices."
"All right, well, don't concentrate so hard on the cushion next time," Astoria suggested. "Just sort of… imagine it being next to you as you're casting the spell, and it should come to you. Like this. Accio!"
Astoria's spell worked almost perfectly, the cushion landing with a low thud on the floor beside her. Ginny raised her eyebrows curiously. Was she actually offering her pointers, or was she just trying to make her look even more the fool than she already did?
Deciding that it wouldn't hurt to try and use the tip, Ginny imagined the cushion rising up and coming over to land beside her. "Accio!"
This time, the spell worked perfectly for her also. As the large blue cushion landed beside her, Ginny let out a whoop of excitement at having done it. "Yes!"
"That was a great job!" Astoria was grinning too. "Just keep on doing that and you won't have a problem with it."
Ginny now looked curiously at her class partner. She had never encountered a Slytherin like this girl. She wasn't rude, cruel, vindictive, bigoted, or any of the other things she'd come to associate with Slytherins, all with good reason. After all, it had been a Slytherin who had possessed her in second year. But this Astoria girl seemed to be someone whom Ginny could end up being friends with.
"Thanks," Ginny said.
As the class wound down, Flitwick called them back to order and had them pack all the cushions away and put the tables back out.
"Now, I want you all to look up some information about Banishing Charms, as we'll be practicing those next lesson, please write six inches about the differences in the logistics between it and the Summoning Charm. Dismissed!"
As they started to leave, Ginny felt that she should do something to repay Astoria for her help. "Hey, do you want any help with the research on the Banishing Charm? I don't do so well on the actual practical charms, but I'm usually good with the theory and stuff."
It was Astoria's turn to give Ginny a scrutinizing look. Finally, she smiled and said, "Oh, yes, thank you. I really don't like doing research all that much, but it should be fun if we do it together. When are you free?"
"We have dinner, do you want to go right now?" Ginny asked.
Astoria nodded, shouldering her bag more firmly on her shoulder. "Might as well. I'm not particularly hungry."
The two made their ways through the hallways, making some small talk as they headed to the library. Ginny was so distracted talking to Astoria that she didn't realize someone was chasing after her until they tugged on her shoulder. It was a third year boy that Ginny thought looked slightly familiar.
"What's the matter?" Ginny asked the boy.
The boy looked absolutely terrified. "It's your brothers, Fred and George! They set off a Portable Swamp in the Entrance Hallway! Umbridge tried to punish them but they Summoned their brooms and flew away!"
Ginny started to laugh at this. Fred and George had set off a Portable Swamp? That was so like them! She imagined it was their distraction to allow Harry a few minutes to talk to Sirius, and she thought it was brilliant that they managed to leave a mark upon the school before they made their great escape.
To Ginny's surprise, Astoria started to laugh as well. "Your brothers are hilarious, Ginny," she grinned. "A Portable Swamp? I bought some Fever Fudge from them last week."
"A Slytherin against Umbridge?" Ginny questioned in surprise. She hadn't expected this.
Astoria made herself stop laughing before she said, "Well, it's pretty obvious that Umbridge is part of the Ministry's cover-up of You-Know-Who's return. My dad told me everything during the summer holidays, but he also told Daphne and me that we had to pretend to go along with the Ministry for now. My mum told me that we should do it to keep ourselves safe, no matter what we thought on our own."
"And what do you think?" Ginny asked.
"I know what You-Know-Who is capable of, and I don't want him to be able to hurt people I care about. I'm Slytherin for a reason, you know. I realize dangerous power when I encounter it. He killed a cousin of mine and her whole family because she married a muggleborn man. I want him stopped, no one is safe while he's in charge."
Ginny didn't press the issue, because she felt that she had all the information she needed. It was surprising to find a Slytherin who was… well, a friend.