A while back I had a dream about one of my old school friends sitting waiting in Hogwarts and then other characters started appearing in the dream too. When I woke up I realised that a small part of the dream reminded me slightly of a very old 'teen horror' type book I've had for years called horrorscope, the main character (Robyn) writes the schools horoscopes under a pseudonym. So that's why I used her name (but that's about it – the plot's not similar at all– as of yet anyway!)
Anyway, the dream was quite cool so I thought I'd just jot it down quickly – before I'd realised it I'd written enough for half a chapter and hadn't got close to the end of my dream. So I figured, if I'd gone to that much detail I might as well make a decent chapter out of it... but I couldn't just leave it at the end of my dream as it would be like a peek into a story with no conclusion.
I know I should be working on Ferrets and Weasels (and I am - just slowly, I'm having a bit of a block with Severus at the mo and he's featuring heavily in the next chapter. I pick it up, write a few words and then get fed up and walk away!)
Anyway - I thought I might as well do this while I wait for my brian to work properly again!
I'm going to elaborate on my dream and try and turn this into a full story! It won't be cannon at all (which unnerves me somewhat!) but I will take a few bits of the stories where I think they may be appropriate.
Wish me luck!
As should be obvious by now (!) none of the H.P characters or anything else you recognise is mine! Maria, Chloe, and the (ha ha) fictional Jonathan and Matthew are.
Ginny walked quickly through the dark, deserted corridor. She reached her destination and gently opened the door in front of her. She was forced to raise her hand in front of her freckled face for a moment to let her eyes adjust to the sudden glare of sunlight. Maybe she wasn't so late after all; the heavy brocade curtains were still pulled back from the grand windows, meaning there were a good few minutes before everything would start. Accustomed now to the brightness, Ginny gazed lovingly at the way that the sunlight beamed through the panes and highlighted the motes gently floating in the crisp November breeze.
Stepping into the room and onto the beautifully polished wooden floor, Ginny had to squeeze past a nervous group of first years who were trying to find any seats left in the duelling room. She smiled briefly, remembering how anxious she had been as a new first year, worried about fitting in and being one of the crowd.
The room was certainly packed; a large raised platform had been erected in the centre and rows of layered benches that had been set up around three sides of the room were heaving with noisy students.
She spotted her friend Maria, who was waving wildly at her from a secluded row of benches near the top tiers which afforded them a very good view. Ginny nodded her head quickly and started to make her way up to the seat that Maria had saved for her. She found it difficult to wind her way through the thin aisle which lead between the rows, because people kept leaning from one bench to another to gossip about today's round of the competition. Annoyingly, she felt sure that a couple of the boys in the audience moved in front of her on purpose; she was just as sure that Maria would be keen to point out why they were doing so - if Ginny ever managed to reach her through the crowd.
The petite redhead knew that she had certainly blossomed over the summer and although she had never had to beg for a boyfriend before, her new found assets (and the fact that her brother's attention was focused elsewhere this year) meant that she was now almost inundated with requests for dates. She had also been sent a few cards and a box of chocolates – which had been passed on to her good humoured dorm mates.
But however many notes and gifts were owled to her, Ginny resolutely refused to believe Maria's claim that she was now one of the most attractive girls in their year, maybe in Hogwarts itself.
Every time her bubbly friend brought the subject up; Ginny would remind her about all those horrid freckles covering her otherwise plain face, and her ginger hair which was long and childish (thanks to her mother's refusal to have it cut). Ginny also pointed out that she was too short (as was her fuse) and that her clothes were old, second hand and getting a bit tight - meaning that in anything other than her robes, her very large behind was most painfully on display for everyone to laugh at.
What Maria saw however, was someone who - while not breathtakingly stunning - was very pretty in a fresh faced, girl next door way. The cinnamon dusting of freckles across her nose, cheeks and forehead, combined with the permanent flush to her cheeks, simply added to her innocent allure.
Her hair was thick and healthy, it was a pleasant coppery shade with lots of lovely gold and red streaked naturally through it and was always clean. When Ginny didn't have it scraped back in an effort to hide it away, it fell around her face like a fiery mane.
Maria felt sure that with a peachy bottom like Ginny's (especially when poured into her faded hand-me-down jeans), the boys would be happy to overlook a few patched robes and threadbare jumpers. And as for being short... well Maria, with her Amazonian frame, felt that it would be nice not to tower over any potential suitors.
Regardless of how many times the girls argued over the matter, Ginny still knew that she was certainly not the most sought after among the boys. This was partly due to her fiery temper but mainly because in the couple of months since term started Ginny had turned down 100 percent of the offers she had received – all very politely of course. Despite this, a few of her admirers wouldn't give up the idea that she was just playing hard to get, and were convinced they could do something to win her over.
Eventually Ginny made her way to where Maria was sitting; Ginny noticed for the first time that there was someone sitting in between Maria and the spare seat. She vaguely recognised the girl with her black curly hair, plump face and dark eyes framed and enlarged by thick glasses. Ginny then remembered Maria mentioning that her cousin was joining Hogwarts as a transfer student for the year, and smiled at the girl in what she hoped was a welcoming way.
Before any of the girls could say anything to each other, Professor McGonagall entered from a small door at the back of the room. "Quiet down now please… Quiet." She said loudly.
Once she had everyone's attention she continued. "Thank you. Now, as you are probably aware from last week's events, we have reached the quarter-finals of our tournaments and have whittled down the competitors by quite some number. So, instead of splitting each year's final three heats, we will be amalgamating them to one triple length session a fortnight. The Fifth year competitors will go first, then the Sixth years and finally the Seventh years. Any questions? Good."
McGonagall stepped back through the door and ushered out the eight Fifth years that had managed to win each of their duels so far. Ginny looked eagerly to see if she recognised any of the people remaining; As the competition had been so vast until this point, the trials had been held in different areas of the school and so students had only been able to see some of the heats, making it difficult to keep up with who had beaten whom.
As Ginny didn't recognise any of the final eight, she would have to wait for the battered old sorting hat to announce their names. She thought it was nice that the hat could be used for more than just the sorting ceremonies; currently it was being placed on the heads of each of the competitors and then it would set them into four pairs of opponents according to the best matched couples. That meant that there were never one-sided fights and lessened the likelihood of terrible accidents which happened when a much weaker dueller couldn't counter a curse sent by a strong opponent.
However, Ginny had a sneaking suspicion that the hat was saving the best matches for the final – it always did have a flair for theatrics.
The time passed quickly for Ginny; it was late on in the competition so all the students left in the running were very skilled for their year, which made for an interesting afternoon. But it still seemed quite a while until the sixth years had finished and the floor to ceiling curtains were once again pulled back. Then the event that Ginny had been waiting for was announced – the Seventh year duels.
She knew deep down that she should probably find her own year's trials more exciting, but the Seventh years had learned spells which were leaps and bounds above anything the normal Sixth year would know. Plus, she had better friends competing in the top year; most of Ginny's friends from her own year weren't very interested in duelling, but they were curious as to why she hadn't entered.
Only a few of her closest friends knew why, Ginny had felt it unfair to enter knowing full well that her experiences had meant that she knew and could execute spells and hexes as well as some of the final contenders in the seventh year. That and having six older brothers meant that she had a tendency to play dirty and she didn't feel it right to unleash that on some of her fellow Sixth year students... Well, maybe a few of the Slytherins and an occasional ex-boyfriend but none of them would have gone far enough in the competition to challenge her.
McGonagall disappeared through the doorway briefly and when she returned, sorting hat once more in hand, the crowd gave its largest cheer yet. Ginny thought that maybe she wasn't the only one to be excited about this round.
Following Professor McGonagall were the Seventh year contenders, they walked slowly through the door and up the stairs to the stage one by one as if on a parade, which Ginny supposed they were really.
Harry Potter, Ginny's one time crush, came first; he looked slightly tense but otherwise the same as ever, with his shock of black hair and trademark dark framed glasses. Ginny knew that he hadn't really wanted to enter, but it counted towards their house points and Dumbledore had thought that it would be a good idea for Harry to show people how good he was at duelling. The Headmaster had said it would help alleviate their fears about how a young boy was meant to overcome such a powerful wizard as Voldemort.
Ron Weasley, Harry's best friend and Ginny's older brother followed; he shared Ginny's ginger hair and freckled skin but where Ginny was small, Ron towered above most of his other class mates. Ginny was pleased that he had made it so far (obviously duelling ran in the Weasley blood) although she thought that it couldn't hurt to have Harry to practise with.
Or Hermione Granger for that matter, the smartest witch at Hogwarts, who trailed out after the two boys looking very nervous. She had tamed her bushy hair back into a tight bun and was muttering to herself, Ginny guessed that she was making sure she had enough spells memorised.
The next person to walk through the door caused murmurs to spring up around the room; Neville Longbottom had certainly surprised everyone by making it so far in the competition. In the last round people had said that he seemed overly nervous and clumsy, yet at just the right time he had performed an extremely tricky spell which caused several tentacle-like plants to spring from the end of his wand and snatch his opponent's wand right from their hand.
Neville was gazing with wide eyes and an open mouth at the vast number of people filling the duelling room; his eyes briefly fell upon Ginny, easy to spot with her shining copper hair, and he gave her a small worried smile. Ginny beamed at him and gave him two thumbs up, she had always liked Neville and they shared a strange friendship that benefited them both greatly.
Ginny wasn't as familiar with the fifth and sixth people to enter, although she knew them well enough through various associations. Anthony Goldstein was a Ravenclaw student who had been friends with her ex boyfriend Michael Corner. She hoped that Anthony was a better loser than Michael had been as, skilled in duelling as he was, Ginny doubted that he would get to the final.
Zacharias Smith, who came through just after Anthony, looked smug despite the lack of cheers from even his fellow Hufflepuffs. Ginny, like many people, did not like Zacharias at all and she hoped that his smug look would be wiped from his face this round.
The penultimate contestant came out looking perfectly preened and not in the slightest bit nervous. Tossing her dark, silky hair artfully over her shoulder, the Slytherin Pansy Parkinson pouted and made eyes at as many of the boys in the audience as she could; she strutted towards the group of waiting duellers as if she were posing on a catwalk. Her tailored robes had been undone just enough to show off the hem of her skirt, which was definitely much shorter than the recommended length and probably very unsuitable for duelling in. (Hermione had, Ginny knew, made the decision to wear her gym shorts underneath her skirt, just in case.)
Last of all came a tall pale boy who walked as though he owned the school. Sighs came from a good many of the girls in the audience but he did not flirt with the crowd as his fellow Slytherin had; instead he was calm and cool and seemed as though he didn't care who was watching him.
"Draco Malfoy…" Maria said with a sly look on her face. She leaned right over her cousin and said quietly to Ginny, "I wonder if he duels as well as you write he does?"
Ginny shot Maria an incredulous look and then frowned, shooting her eyes meaningfully towards the poor girl now squashed under Maria's considerable assets.
Maria looked confused for a moment and then her face gained a look of understanding. "Oh… don't worry about Chloe; she can keep a secret better than I can!"
Ginny pulled a face at Maria, "Well that's not very difficult is it? You weren't meant to say anything"
Chloe also looked a little confused and Ginny could now see the resemblance to Maria who was looking at her apologetically. "Sorry Ginny, you know loads of the girls read your stuff; sometimes I forget that they don't know it's you that's writing it."
Ginny grimaced again and let out an exasperated sigh. She was hoping that Maria's first slip up could have been covered by a simple excuse but now she'd gone too far. Ginny was just glad that at least their seats were set slightly away from the main crowd and that no-one bar the three of them could hear the conversation over the cat-calls from the crowd anyway.
Ginny guessed she would have to come clean and swear Chloe to secrecy, but Maria got there first.
"You know 'Robyn's Tale?" She said to Chloe eagerly, continuing quickly before Cher cousin had a chance to respond. "Well Ginny is the person behind it!" Maria finished triumphantly.
Chloe noticed the expectant look on Maria's face and had to shrug remorsefully. "I'm really sorry but I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Oh that doesn't matter then." Ginny said quickly, very relieved (but secretly ever so slightly disappointed) by Chloe's lack of knowledge. "You don't have to worry; it's all very boring anyway. Forget Maria said anything…"
Maria's jaw had dropped for a second but she soon regained her excited demeanour and totally contradicted Ginny. "Of course, you're new. Oh you just wait! Let me explain"
Maria checked that the sorting hat was still busy mulling over who to match together; satisfied she had a few minutes she settled back and said in a quiet story telling style of voice. "A week or so after term started this year, one of the first years found a roll of parchment in the library. Pince – she's the librarian – saw the girl reading it with a friend and thought that they were writing notes or something. Well, she went to tell them off but the girl said that she'd found the paper and was trying to figure out if it belonged to anyone."
Maria stopped suddenly when it seemed something of a commotion was occurring on the stage, but it turned out that it was just McGonagall telling off a fifth year for trying to look up Pansy's skirt and Pansy for encouraging them. Maria continued her narrative a little faster.
"Anyway, Pince put the parchment on the message board outside the library so it could be easily found if it's owner came looking. However… The girl had told a few of her friends about what had happened and exactly what was on the parchment. Soon small groups of girls started to go up and read the parchment, then more people found out and eventually word of it was spreading round the school."
"Well, what was it?" Chloe interrupted, almost bursting with excitement.
"Ah…" replied Maria. "That's why everyone was so intrigued. It was the first chapter of a story, a mysterious romance it seemed – a very interesting tale about a girl called Robyn. Well, half the girls in the school were speculating over it – everyone wanted to know who had written it, mainly so they could find out what happened in the rest of the story.
Eventually Dumbledore mentioned it at breakfast one morning. He said that he'd noticed many of the students had seemed overly distracted in the last week or so and then … Get this," Maria winked at Chloe and Ginny pressed her fingers over her eyes in embarrassment.
"Dumbledore said 'Perhaps I may suggest that whoever happened to write the first chapter of Robyn's most intriguing story, could manage to lose the next chapter somewhere it can be easily found. Preferably before my students drive themselves balmy with curiosity.'How cool is that? Dumbledore actually encouraged them to carry on with the story – I reckon he wanted to know what happened too…
"What?" Maria asked, looking at Ginny's shocked face. "Blokes read it too – they just do it when they think no one's going to catch them! Anyway, loads of people say Dumbledore's a fan, Hagrid too - he loves it – nearly cried when… Oh but I shouldn't give the story away."
Chloe looked hesitant for a moment and then said, "So Ginny, you wrote it? Did you leave it there on purpose?"
Maria snorted loudly and again spoke before Ginny had the chance to open her mouth. "Yeah right – you should have seen her; she was in a right panic. When she eventually came clean to me and asked how she could get people to forget about the story, I had to practically force her to 'lose' the next chapter."
Chloe looked at Ginny. "But if it's that good, why didn't you want anyone to see it?"
Finally Ginny got a say in her own story. "It was never meant to be seen by anyone – I was really bored over the summer as… erm, my plans had fallen through so I spent a lot of time sitting out in our gardens by the pond writing; it was silly really, just to entertain myself. When we came back to school, I wanted to carry on writing and finish it but I had a few things that I needed to look up in the library, potions ingredients and stuff – I know it sounds stupid considering no one else except me was meant to read this, but I wanted to get everything right."
Maria butted in. "Ginny's a perfectionist."
"I am not. I just don't see the point in half doing something, it's always going to be better if you do it right… Anyway; I'd been in the library for a while, I'd just finished the first chapter and was going to start on the second when Malfoy and his cronies came in. I didn't want to be bothered by his boring 'no money' jibes as I'd be far too tempted to hex him, which would get me into trouble.
So I just shoved everything in my bag as quickly as I could and left. I must have either left the parchment behind or dropped it – there were a group of first year girls coming in as I left, it has to be then."
Chloe looked as though she was drinking in every last detail of the story that was unfolding. "So you did post new chapters then?" She asked.
Ginny looked uncomfortable. "Eventually I did -only because Maria threatened to tell a few select gossips that it was me that wrote it. She said it was too good to keep to myself but I think she's talking rubbish."
Maria laughed. "Come on Gin, stop being so modest. You know it's good. Loads of people are hooked on it." Turning to Chloe she murmured. "Ginny or I lose a chapter every now and then, whenever she has one finished. Although it's getting tricky to not be caught - we've been leaving them all over school but people are constantly on the lookout so it's hard avoiding suspicion. You'll be a great help as no one will suspect you, coming in halfway through so to speak! Oooh, they're starting…" she squealed loudly.
Everyone sat up straighter and the general babble quietened down. McGonagall stood tall and held up the battered hat in front of her. The mouth like rip opened up and said in its magical voice;
"A warm welcome to one and all;
Who have come to see the Seventh year Duel;
Some competitors are fierce and tough;
But we shall see if that is enough;
Bravery, cunning or heart will they need;
To help them be the one to succeed…"
The hat made a noise which sounded like it was clearing its throat (if even a magical hat could be said to have a throat), it then continued in a more formal tone. "Today's duels will be; Harry Potter versus Zacharias Smith, Hermione Granger versus Pansy Parkinson, Anthony Goldstein versus Neville Longbottom and the final duel will be Draco Malfoy versus Ronald Weasley."
Ginny clamped her hands to her mouth and let out a moan of worry. Maria looked at her in concern, leaned over and patted her knee gently. "Don't worry luv, it'll be ok." She said soothingly.
"What's wrong?" Asked Chloe, looking confused.
"Ronald Weasley is Ginny's brother, and he's just been pitted against the 'evil' Draco Malfoy… Bad boy of year Seven. However I'm sure the sorting hat wouldn't have put them together if it was an uneven match. Ron will be fine…"
"He's quite good looking isn't he?" Chloe said a little shyly.
"Malfoy?" Maria said, "Yeah totally, but you'll have competition if you fancy going there– loads of girls fancy him – and he's totally fussy too… he'd never go for a Gryffindor. Well maybe Ginny." She smirked.
Ginny, shock making her totally forget her worry for Ron, looked at Maria as if she was mad. "What?" she said in a tone that suggested the same thing.
"Well, Matthew is obviously crazy about Robyn." Maria said as if that one sentence would clear up the whole argument.
"Matthew is Jonathan's arch nemesis – why on earth would he want Robyn? She'd never go with him." Ginny spluttered.
Maria smiled in a way that made Ginny feel a little nervous. "That's what's happening on the surface, but a popular theory amongst your readers is that Matthew will actually change his ways because he's fallen for Robyn and she will end up with him rather than Jonathan – who's a bit too noble for his own good."
Ginny gawped at Maria. "They what?? I can't – who…" Realising she was being pulled into a pointless argument Ginny shook her head and said. "Anyway – none of that has anything to do with this. That's fiction and this is real life, I am most definitely notRobyn, and no matter how many times you say so, Malfoy is notMatthew… Well, ok they're both evil gits but Malfoy is not as suave as Matthew and he is most definitely not drop-dead gorgeous."
"Whatever Gin." Maria muttered, "I wouldn't kick 'The Slytherin Sex God' out of bed… In fact I'd drag him into it!"
All the competitors except Harry and Zacharias were asked to leave the stage; McGonagall cast a sonorus charm on the boys so everyone could hear what ever spells they would be intoning, took their robes from them (leaving them in their official duelling kit of a very plain fitted shirt and trousers - neither with pockets that anything could be hidden in) and then led the other competitors to a reserved bench at the front.
Ginny's eyes fell on Draco Malfoy, he had held out his hand to help Pansy down the stairs and in doing so his hair fell back from where it had been covering his eyes. As Professor McGonagall closed the curtains, the last ray of sunlight caught his movement and made his hair gleam as if it were fine strands of gold and platinum. Ginny wondered when he had stopped plastering it back against his scalp; she looked at him properly for once (instead of as a moving target) and had to admit – he was actually kind of handsome... for an evil smirking git of course.
"Sorry," said Chloe, "but I actually meant the other one was nice looking, your brother, Rob did you say?"
"Ron?" Ginny said, tearing her eyes away from Malfoy. She wrinkled her nose slightly and tried to think of Ron as anything other than a big brother. "He's OK I guess… but I have to warn you, he's got something going on with Hermione – the one with the bun down there."
Chloe raised her head to peer through the now darkened room to where Ginny had pointed. "Oh – I see, well she's very pretty. Never mind, there are plenty of boys to go around!" Maria giggled at her cousin's attitude.
The stage suddenly blared into light; as had happened with the other duels, several shining globes were now hovering at each corner of the stage, spotlighting the two remaining boys and casting strange, wavering shadows over the stage and audience.
Harry and Zacharias bowed low to each other and prepared to duel; both boys were taking side-steps and waiting for the other to make the first move. Smith was first to crack, throwing a rather nasty conjunctivitis curse towards Harry; however it was rather a pointless move as it bounced harmlessly off Harry's very well warded glasses.
Frowning, Zacharias quickly shot a jellylegs jinx which Harry easily defended himself against. Watching carefully, Ginny noticed that Harry didn't seem to be casting any offensive spells and was more interested in defending himself than actually attacking Smith.
Eventually, when the opportunity arose, Harry fired off a well aimed Expelliarmus which was so simple it caught Zacharias off guard. Smith's wand flew from his hand and nestled itself in Harry's palm.
McGonagall climbed the stops to the stage quickly and held Harry's arm aloft. "The winner… Harry Potter. Smithwill you please refrain from using such curse words - twenty points from Hufflepuff." She shook her head in annoyance as she led the two boys off stage and, once the cheering had finished, ushered Hermione and Pansy to take their places.
"This should be good!" Ginny said eagerly, leaning forward in her chair. She realised that Chloe wouldn't know what she meant by that and added, "Hermione and Pansy hate each other, Pansy can't stand the fact that Hermione ended up being much prettier than her and Hermione just doesn't like the stuck up, downright rude little cow that Pansy is…"
She turned to Maria and said with glee. "This isn't common knowledge... yet, but apparently, last week Hermione hit Millicent Bulstrode with a variation of the Duro charm which turned her to stone for an hour – Hermione was panicking so much that she'd get in trouble and that she shouldn't have been so reckless blah, blah, but Ron said that Bulstrode looked like a troll anyway so nobody noticed."
Chloe looked a little shocked at Ginny's extreme excitement at the girl's downfall but Maria explained, "Ginny may look all sweetness and light but deep down she's a bit of a minx... in a good way though! Comes from having Fred and George Weasley as older brothers. You know, the joke shop I took you to? Anyway, Millicent deserved it – she's the school's biggest bully and is constantly picking on Hermione - was anyway from the sounds of things."
Understanding dawned on Chloe's face. "Oh, well after seeing some of the stuff in there, there's no surprise you're a bit fierce. Your brothers are crazy… Nice looking though! I always did have a thing for ginger boys!"
Ginny laughed. "Really? Well you're in luck then – I have lots more brothers and cousins you can lust over!"
Down on the stage, Hermione and Pansy curtsied to each other, although Pansy looked distinctly unhappy about showing any sort of sign of respect to Hermione. Within a second, Hermione had cast the Avis charm which produced a flock of birds from the tip of her wand, she then cried out "Oppugno" which sent the birds winging straight for Pansy. They pecked and scratched at the Slytherin girl, especially her hair.
The unexpected attack caused Pansy to shriek out loud, drop her wand and flail madly at the birds. Hermione quickly grabbed Pansy's discarded wand and held it up so everyone could see. Ginny could see Ron laughing from the bench; Hermione had cast the same charm on him once, in a fit of jealousy.
"Finite Incantatem." Professor McGonagall said loudly, causing the birds to disappear completely; however very obvious evidence of their attack had been left all over the now dishevelled Parkinson. Ginny could see that Hermione was desperately trying to hide her amusement as the Professor held her arm up and announced her to be the victor. Pansy fled the stage as quickly as she could; ignoring the mocking wolf-whistles she received from the audience.
Next to duel were Neville and Anthony. Both boys looked rather nervous and Ginny thought it would be quite an even match, she didn't want to admit it but she felt that both boys were probably the weakest in the competition so whichever of them won would have a hard time in the next round. Of course she crossed her fingers for Neville to win this duel but she wouldn't have placed a bet on either boy.
The fight started off rather slowly, both Neville and Anthony sent hesitant spells at each other, both only narrowly avoiding each other's hexes. Soon, several of the Slytherin audience members started stretching and faking loud yawns. After a very near miss, Neville intoned a strange spell that Ginny didn't recognise, nothing seemed to happen though and the two boys continued on their slow and careful duel.
Neville kept looking down at Anthony's feet, a move which nearly cost him the match when Anthony sent the Tarantallegra jinx at Neville. Luckily Neville managed to throw up a counter jinx just in time; although he was knocked slightly off balance, he managed to keep his wand and regain his footing.
Suddenly there was a rumbling from the floor and huge vines burst from the ground and flowed over the stage. Anthony was so shocked he froze completely and just stared wide eyed as the vines bound him up from shoulders to toes, leaving just his head and one hand poking out of the greenery.
Neville walked over to his opponent and plucked the wand from his hand, not before apologising to him though. Ginny grinned, trust Neville to feel sorry for winning. He even managed to look sheepish when Professor McGonagall cheered for him and held up his arm. "Well done Neville!" She had said loudly, obviously having a soft spot for the underdog.
Ginny clenched her fists tightly, the match she was dreading was next. Her brother and Draco Malfoy took the stage, Ron was looking very nervous. Although he had been saying throughout the competition that he would love to have a chance to beat Malfoy, Ginny secretly thought he had been imagining that Harry would be the one facing Malfoy. She hoped Ron's nerves held – he tended to make stupid mistakes when he got nervous.
As soon as Ron and Draco had both bowed (both sneering) to each other, the spells flew hard and fast. Ginny was amazed and slightly terrified at how furiously the two boys seemed to be attacking each other, almost recklessly. She was impressed at how well Ron was doing, he was jinxing and counter-jinxing quite easily and his look of panic had now turned into one of steely determination.
After a very tricky couple of jinxes and hexes sent from either side, it seemed that Ron had his adversary beaten, but suddenly Draco pointed his wand near Ron's feet and called out "Aranortia gargantua."
A very large, hairy spider appeared at Ron's feet, Ginny could see how big its fangs were from where she sat. "Oh Ron!" she said, worried for her brother. She could vaguely hear Maria explaining to Chloe that Ron had a huge fear of spiders but didn't dare take her eyes off her brother for a second.
Ron was staring very wide eyed at the spider, Ginny could see Draco poise his wand ready for another spell but Ron did something that surprised everyone – instead of finding a spell to destroy or remove the spider (which is what any normal wizard would do), Ron pulled back his leg and kicked it away. His reluctant football games with Dean and Seamus over the summer had certainly paid off, the giant arachnid flew straight towards Malfoy's face.
Draco paled even more than normal as he leaned sideways to avoid the now very enraged spider; however despite his swerve, it still caught the edge of his right shoulder, throwing him off balance.
Malfoy fell to the floor, still clutching his wand tightly. The spider had rebounded into the crowd next to the stage and many of the girls in that area were screaming and standing on their chairs. Meanwhile, Ron was just about to take advantage of Draco's fall, but just as he opened his mouth to cast, Draco yelled from the floor, "Langlock."
Many of the students looked confused at the spell but Ginny knew from Harry that this was a spell of Professor Snape's – it meant that Ron's tongue would be effectively glued to the roof of his mouth. "Oh, no – Ron's no good at non-verbal spells." Ginny said desperately to Maria.
Sure enough, as much as Ron pointed his wand at Malfoy, nothing happened. He clenched his fists angrily as Malfoy sprung effortlessly from the floor and seconds later put Ron in a full body-binding curse. Draco cast a Mobilicorpus on Ron so that he floated a few inches off the ground and then took Ron's wand from his hand. Ron's eyeballs were rolling angrily at Malfoy, who smirked arrogantly back at him. When Ginny looked down to her friends, she saw that Hermione was holding Harry's arm very tightly and whispering urgently in his ear.
Quickly, Professor McGonagall (who had just finished getting rid of the rogue spider) joined the two and rather coldly announced Draco the winner. She took the spells off Ron who looked absolutely furious and he stalked off the stage towards Harry and Hermione as soon as he was allowed.
"Now, thank you all for being such a well behaved audience." McGonagall said. "I'm sure I don't need to remind you, but the semi-finals will take place at the same time in a fortnight. Please leave in an orderly fashion – I want no pushing. Remember the poor second year that ended up in the hospital wing."
Please excuse my pathetic attempt at a rhyme! I felt it was necessary from the sorting hat but I'm not very good.