Disclaimer: I STILL don't own Harry Potter! :(
Sugar Quills Part 1: High on Sugar Quills
Ron and Hermione
It was a rainy March Friday at Hogwarts. Classes were over, and students were confined to their common rooms and dormitories.
Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas, and Seamus Finnigan were sprawled throughout the sixth-year boys' dormitory.
The dorm had become their place to "study." (A.K.A. Eat sweets from Honeydukes and treats that Dobby brought up from the kitchens, talk, play Exploding Snap and Wizard Chess, and make many failed attempts to get Hermione to join in the fun while she sad resolutely in a corner taking feverish notes from her History of Magic textbook.)
Hermione was in her usual corner writing a Potions essay that was two feet longer than the fifteen-foot requirement. Two feet and counting.
Ron was perched on the edge of his bed, sucking on a sugar quill absently and watching Dean and Seamus's game of Wizard Chess, which Dean was losing spectacularly.
Harry and Ginny were sitting cross-legged on Harry's bed, playing Exploding Snap.
Ginny placed a card in the pile, and it promptly blew up.
"I believe I win again, Mr. Potter," she said smugly.
"I still say you're cheating," Harry grumbled.
"Yes, well, that's what you get from having to live with Fred and George Weasley," Ginny said mischievously.
"AH-HA!" Harry shouted, making everyone jump: It had been fairly quiet up until then. He smirked at his girlfriend triumphantly. "So you admit it - you have been cheating."
"Maybe I have, maybe I haven't. The fact remains that I have won," she replied, grinning back.
The lively banter continued for a while, and nobody noticed the box of sugar quills lying scattered on Ron's bed.
Ron bit off a big hunk of one and giggled. Everyone looked at him. He stood up clumsily and started jumping on his bed.
"Oh, Merlin," Ginny muttered. "Sugar rush."
"How many of those have you had, mate?" Harry asked suspiciously.
Ron shrugged and jumped higher, laughing.
"Add to the list of things Ron can't have," Ginny muttered, grinning at Harry. "Sugar quills."
Seamus picked up the box of quills. "They're twelve to a box, and there are only three left. And they're deluxe," he said in horror.
"Wow," Dean said, sounding impressed. "I didn't know it was humanly possible to consume that much sugar in one sitting."
Ginny shot him a dirty look, and he quelled at once.
"It was very immature of him," said Hermione, speaking for the first time in an hour.
"Hermione," Ron said, sounding surprised to hear her voice. "Hermione, you look pretty today," he blurted, hardly seeming aware of what he was saying.
To every one's surprise, Hermione blushed, and returned to her homework, looking happily flustered.
"Hermione's pretty," Ron cooed. "Hermione, I like you," he said softly.
Hermione turned bright red, but was unable to hide her thrilled look.
The room dissolved into hilarity.
The following morning, Ron woke up strangely groggy.
Rubbing his eyes blearily, he pulled himself out of bed and stumbled downstairs after putting on his robes backwards. Harry was waiting for him with Ron and Hermione.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" he grouched at his best mate.
"Well," Harry said evasively, "I figured you ought to sleep off the last of the sugar rush."
Ron's eyes widened. He had the vague memory of hitting his head on the ceiling last night, while jumping a bit too high on the bed and waving his wand in random motions, shouting, "Win-gar-dium Levio-sa!" after...after...he couldn't remember, but he figured it was bad.
Ron groaned.
"Did I say...anything?" he asked, glancing at Hermione non-too-subtly.
"Er...well...you said quite a few things, Ron," Harry said, avoiding his gaze.
"Nothing too interesting," Ginny said quickly as Hermione examined the floor rather intently.
"Good!" Ron stated fervently, then he grinned. "Breakfast, anyone?"
Sugar Quills Part 2: Sweet Revenge
Harry and Ginny
Two eighteen-year-old boys leaned over a cauldron in an upper room of the Burrow one drizzly summer afternoon, their identical faces showing identical looks of mischievous delight.
"I think we've done it, Forge!" George said happily.
There was an abrupt mushroom cloud of purple smoke, and the contents of the cauldron hissed menacingly. Then, a burst of heat blew up in the Weasley twins' faces.
They grinned at each other, their faces sooty, eyebrows singed, bright red hair on end.
"Definitely done it, Gred," Fred replied. "Now who to try it out on?"
"Oh, I can think of a couple of people who could use a bit of a push in the right direction," George replied, his eyes twinkling.
"Right you are, brother. Right you are."
Ginny Weasley sat at the kitchen table at the Burrow, staring at her blank piece of parchment, the summer question sheet on Basilisks they were supposed to be doing for Defense Against the Dark Arts. What was she supposed to say?
What was she supposed to say?
Question: If you ever met a Basilisk, how would you deal with it?
Answer: I have met a Basilisk, and honestly, I didn't do much of anything - I was too busy being possessed by the evilest Dark wizard of all time. Ask Harry Potter.
Question: How - ideally - do you defeat a Basilisk?
Answer: Keep your eyes closed, blunder around it carrying a sword, and wait until you get a lucky swing. Or you run yourself through with the sword. Or the BASILISK gets a lucky swing. OR a Phoenix comes to help you and digs out it's eyes. Not exactly what I'd call ideal.
Question: How can you avoid getting killed by a Basilisk's stare?
Answer: Walk around with your eyes closed, bouncing off the walls. Or carry around a compact mirror, but then people might think you're conceited.
Question: What is the only cure for Basilisk venom?
Answer: Phoenix tears. And Lord Voldemort needs a reminder of that every once in a while. Keep that in mind, will you?
Question: The last a Basilisk was sighted was 400 years ago. Explain why it would be hard for the Control Of Magical Creatures department at the Ministry of Magic to know if a Basilisk is being bred.
Answer: The potential breeder could simply take the toad off of the chicken egg when the M.O.M. officials get there. And the last a Basilisks was sighted was 4 years ago! Here's and idea: Update your facts every now and then!
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, and George came in chattering.
"Hey, Gin, want to come out and play some Quidditch?" Harry asked, grinning at her.
She felt her cheeks burn at his smile. Darn that stupid Weasley blush!
Because if she was honest with herself about it, she'd admit that she still liked him.
No, loved him.
She wasn't honest with herself about it.
"Er...I can't, sorry Harry. Mum says I have to get on the homework."
Harry pulled a face. "Ugh. What's the paper for?" he asked, sitting next to her and nudging the parchment towards himself.
"Defense," she said.
Harry scanned the page, a mounting look of amusement on his handsome face.
"Basilisks, huh?" he snickered. "Oh, well. At least you'll get top marks." He elbowed her playfully.
"In case you've forgotten, I was too busy dying to pay attention to the finer points of your defeat of the Basilisk," she said.
She had meant it teasingly, but Harry's face darkened.
"I know," he said softly. "I hadn't forgotten."
"You coming or what, Harry?" Ron called.
"Erm...I...I think I'll stay here for a while. I'll join you guys later."
Ron examined his best friend's face, evidently surprised that Harry Potter, the best Seeker that Hogwarts had seen in years, would turn down a game of Quidditch. He shrugged. "All right, mate, see you."
"George and I will be right out," Fred said, reaching for a glass to get himself some water. Hermione and Ron left together, bickering.
Ginny twirled her quill between her fingers, keeping her eyes fixed on her parchment, self-conscious that Harry was still watching her.
If I don't look at him, I won't blush.
A few minutes of silence passed, the twins standing to the side, talking in undertones, Harry watching Ginny, and Ginny pretending that she didn't care.
After a while, Ginny scribbled something down. She frowned at the paper, sucking on the end of her quill contemplatively. However, she pulled it from her mouth again, startled.
Glancing down at her fingers, she realized they were sticky with melted sugar where she'd been clutching the quill.
"Did you or Ron leave any sugar quills around?" she asked Harry.
"No," Harry said, glancing at her with a small frown.
"Oh, sorry Ginny. I opened a package earlier and left a few here," George said. "None of them were used."
Ginny looked suspicious, but nodded and nibbled a bit off the end of the quill as she tried to focus back on the questions. A queasy sensation churned in her stomach, and she put the quill down, leaning back in her chair.
"You okay, Gin?" Harry asked, concerned.
Ginny didn't want to seem stupid, blabbing over a few moments of stomach ache, and opened her mouth to say she was fine, but the words twisted, forming something entirely different: "A bit queasy, but nothing else," she said. Harry frowned.
"Really, Ginny?" George asked in a voice that indicated he was trying to keep a strait face.
"Yes. Of course. Why would I lie?" Where did that come from?
"Oh, I don't know. You might lie about other things."
Ginny meant to shrug it off, but more words were pulled from her gut as if by force: "What do you mean, other things?"
"Hmm...Let's see, Ginny," Fred said in a mock-thoughtful voice. "Do you still like Harry?"
No...Of course not, she meant to answer - untruthfully - but again, something else came out of her mouth: "Yes," she whispered.
"Just as a friend?" George asked.
"No," Ginny said, even more quietly than before.
Harry had been leaning on the back two legs of his chair, which now thudded down as he stared at his friend.
"Ginny?" he murmured, uncertain.
Ginny opened her mouth, but her throat felt dry and tight. Oh, my goodness, why did I just say that?
She shook her head mutely, turning away from him.
Ginny felt warm hands on her cheeks, turning her face back.
"Ginny..."
She looked at him, mortified. His eyes were a warm, liquid green, burning into her own brown ones.
Then, he did the last thing she expected: He leaned in, and kissed her gently.
Ginny gasped against his lips, then pressed into him.
"We'll leave you two alone, then," Fred chuckled.
"Oh, no you won't!" Ginny said abruptly, pulling away from Harry somewhat reluctantly.
"Ah, Ginny, did you really want to stop kissing him?" George asked, laughing, knowing that she'd be forced to answer truthfully.
"No." Ginny said, sounding angry to hear the word come from her mouth. "And on that note, tell my why I'm unable to say anything but the truth?"
"Small dose of Veritaserum in the sugar quills. And now we'll leave you two alone," Fred said, and both of them left as quickly as they could.
But not quickly enough to avoid Ginny's two spectacular Bat-Boogie Hexes.
Author's Note: So how was it? Please, please, please, PLEASE review! I mainly ship Harry/Ginny, and I think that shows in the quality of my writing, so I would especially appreciate feedback on the Ron/Hermione one. I'm looking to improve it, and hopefully lengthen it - I feel it was a bit short, but I don't know how to go about doing so. Any comments, questions, or constructive criticisms are more than welcome. PLEASE REVIEW!
~PheonixFlameGinny67