AN: Turns out this was a very quick chapter to revise. Hope you like it.
Disclaimer: Still don't own a thing...
Chapter 3: Potions' Trouble and Soup
Ginny woke up on Wednesday morning positively dreading the day ahead of her. Potions was her first subject, and although she had managed to squeeze in an hour's worth of studying the previous night before giving up and retiring to bed, she knew, somehow, that it wouldn't be enough. What was more, half of the quiz was rumoured to be a "practical" test, which likely meant that she would need to brew a potion of some sort in order to pass. Wishing that she could instead roll over and go back to sleep, Ginny dragged herself out of bed and began to dress, a relentless gloom gnawing at her stomach so that she didn't feel hungry in the slightest by the time she reached the Great Hall. Rather than eating her way through a delicious plate of sausages and toast, she tipped a few things onto her plate and poked at them moodily with her fork as she watched Snape eating his own breakfast up at the staff table. Maybe he would suddenly choke on a rasher of beacon and be swept away to the Hospital Wing, Ginny suggested to herself, though without any real conviction. Maybe then the quiz would be rescheduled to next week, although she knew in her heart that she wouldn't waste that valuable time studying…
"Hey," someone said, sitting down next to Ginny, who turned around and saw that it was Freda. "Are you okay? You're scaring me a bit, staring up at the staff table like that…"
"I'm fine," Ginny said in a flat voice, prodding a bit of sausage around her plate. Oh, how she wished she had her cauldron with her, how she'd love to run right up to Snape and drop it right over his great greasy head… with luck she'd give him a concussion, though it was unlikely through that thick skull of his…
"Ginny," Freda said seriously, staring at her best friend with a startlingly straight face. "What's wrong? You're looking at Snape with that same misty expression Myra always gets when she's reading some dreadfully long reference book…"
Suddenly Freda smirked.
"Hang on," she said slowly, grin widening. "You don't fancy Snape, do you?"
Ginny's hand flew to her pocket and was at the point of gripping the handle of her wand when Freda bust out laughing, causing several people to turn and stare.
"I'm kidding," she explained, though she eyed Ginny's pocket apprehensively; her fist was clearly clenched into a ball around her wand. "Still… if it was Snape…" Freda shuddered but grinned playfully before snatching a peach out of a fruit bowl and taking a bite. Ginny glared at her before removing her hand from her pocket; she had let go of her wand.
"That's the most disgusting thing I've ever heard anyone say, and I grew up with six brothers," she snapped, stabbing at her sausages again. Freda rolled her eyes as her grin changed to an exasperated grimace.
"I said I was joking, didn't I? All the same, I can think of at least ten people who would be a better choice than the President of the Hooked-Nosed Git Society."
"I can think of fifty!" Ginny said furiously. "Filch would be a better choice! Hell, just about anyone would be a better choice!"
"What are you getting so worked up about?" Freda asked in a maddeningly steady voice as Ginny fumed beside her. "I'm kidding, all right? Besides, maybe the quiz today won't be so bad."
She shrugged and took another bite out of her peach. Ginny didn't reply and turned back to her mutilated sausages, now feeling almost sick with anxiety (it didn't help to know that everyone knew that she was nervous about the quiz today, either). Risking a glance across the hall, she saw Snape finishing his breakfast and surveying the students with a unifying dislike, occasionally throwing an indulging smirk at the Slytherin table. Automatically, Ginny's eyes strayed over to a large group of Slytherins gathered near the middle of the table, and immediately saw Draco's blonde head amongst them, surrounded, as always he was at mealtimes, by a gaggle of hopeful-looking girls that laughed too loudly at his jokes and sighed dreamily at him when he wasn't looking in their direction. Not wanting to think what Draco would say if she failed her Potions' quiz, she shifted restlessly in her seat and waited anxiously for breakfast to end.
>>
Fifteen uncomfortable minutes later, Ginny found herself walking down the dank, torch-lit corridor that led to the dungeons with Myra and Freda for company, though, at the moment, they were both of them chatting noisily behind her. As uncomfortable as she had felt waiting for breakfast to be over, she now felt even worse as she walked in silence down the loudly echoing corridor, ignoring her friends' attempts to engage in conversation. Finally, as they joined the line of students waiting outside Snape's classroom, Freda walked forward and eyed Ginny beadily.
"What?" Ginny asked, automatically stepping backwards.
"Are you sure you're feeling okay, Ginny?" Freda asked suspiciously. "It's not like you to zone out like that. That's usually what Myra does."
"I don't do it all the time," Myra objected, looking irritated at this throwaway remark. "Besides, Ginny's obviously just been thinking to herself a lot lately, and I think we ought to leave her alone." Ginny smiled at Myra, grateful, but Freda cut in.
"Yeah, well, who says she can't share her thoughts with us," Freda said, turning to look at Myra instead.
"Maybe she doesn't want to share her thoughts right now!" Myra fired back. "Maybe she just wants you to leave her alone, but that's a laugh, as you seldom do…"
"We are her best friends, you know, meaning that we usually spend time together, so excuse me for the petty crime of hanging out with someone I like…"
Ginny was too preoccupied with her own heavy misery to pay much more attention to the ensuing argument. It wasn't uncommon for Myra and Freda to bicker like this, but it was rarely concerning anything relevant, so Ginny blocked out their voices and dwelled instead on her own depression that she was positive would increase twofold by the end of the class. Sure enough, she could almost physically feel her spirits drop within her as the door to the classroom swung open, and the class quieted instantly and filed inside.
There were a few scattered mutterings throughout the room, but an instant hush fell as Snape slammed the door shut and strutted to the front of the class. Today, Ginny could see that he looked vaguely pleased about something, and was able to guess what it might concern without too much difficulty as he shot her a filthy smirk before speaking to the room in general.
"Today you will be taking a quiz on the Wolf's Bane Solution, a potion whose scent and taste will confuse and disorient a werewolf in the unlikely event that you come in contact with one. Because there is no cure for a werewolf bite, however, it will only give you enough time to flee to a safe place and seek help. However, as idiotic as some of you undoubtedly are, it is a difficult potion to brew, and therefore you will need to pay close attention to the instructions on the board."
With a wave of his wand, words appeared on the board, and with another wave the store cupboard sprang open. Snape, however, turned back to the class.
"This potion will need to simmer overnight, so while you are adding the ingredients to your cauldrons I would also like you to complete a written test of ten questions, to be handed in at the end of the class." At this he flicked his wand sharply at his desk, where a stack of parchment appeared. "You may begin."
It was a severe understatement to say that the Wolf's Bane Solution was a difficult potion to brew; Snape could hardly have set them a more complicated and frustrating assignment. Wondering angrily whether this was Snape's way testing her, of having her make a fool of herself so that he could give Draco permission to drill her extra-hard during study sessions, Ginny sniffed in annoyance before reading the first line of ingredients up at the board, getting her quill ready to write, and setting to work.
>>
Nearly an hour later, Ginny was sitting before a bubbling cauldron in which her Wolf's Bane Solution was simmering and steaming, and staring down at her half-finished quiz paper, her mind utterly blank. Usually she was quite good at taking written tests (it was the practical ones that bothered her), but either it was the heat of the many burners around the room that was getting to her, or she was simply so bad at Potions that it was affecting her writing ability; it certainly would not have been the first time. Still, as she was unwilling to give Snape another chance to fail her, she scribbled down a few vague answers to the last problems, laid down her quill, and reached across the table to grab her sample flask when quite a few things happened in a quick succession.
As she leaned forward, someone on her left let out a small cry, and she turned just in time to see Myra (who had attempted to stand up) pitch backwards, her robes (which had been trapped under Ginny's chair) jerking out from under the leg of Ginny's chair and causing Ginny to fall hard against the edge of the table. The force of the collision caused her cauldron to wobble dangerously on its stand, before tipping over and dousing the entire tabletop with the yellow-green potion.
The only good thing to be said was that Ginny's burner (as well as the burners around her) was not lit, because as the liquid spread rapidly to her neighbors' work spaces she felt sure that there would have been a fire. Everything that the solution touched immediately gave off a sinister hissss and Myra and Freda, who had been seated on either side of Ginny, hurriedly moved their quills and parchment out of the way. Ginny, however, was too late to reach out and grab her quiz paper, which received the full blast of the potion's effects and had instantly been reduced to a pulpy sludge that smelled faintly of burning rubber. Before any of these horrible things could sink in, however, Ginny heard the swish of a cloak and spun around to find Snape staring at her down his greasy hooked nose. His expression was undecipherable; Ginny was unable to tell to he was going to yell at her or smirk triumphantly.
"Well, well," he said finally, his voice the silkiest and most dangerous that Ginny had ever heard him use. "Another zero for the Weasley girl, which means that you have, once again, managed to produce a useless mess of a potion." Snape's lip curled at last in a cruel smile. "I'm afraid that I will have to add an extra evening study session every week from now on for you, Weasley. Now clean up this pathetic excuse for a potion. Your homework will be an essay on the proper concoction of the Wolf's Bane Solution, including how and why it is used. I want it by next Monday."
"But it wasn't her fault, Professor," said Freda earnestly, and Ginny felt an upsurge of gratitude for her best friend. "I – I kicked the table on accident and it just –"
"I saw everything that happened, Ms. Scott," Snape said icily, and Freda's next words died on her lips and she went quiet. "Ten points from Gryffindor for attempting to sway me with your foolish lies. And Weasley," he added in a still more venomous tone, black eyes drilling into Ginny's skull. "Do try to show up for your study sessions. Should you be absent from one, I am quite sure that Draco will report it to me and I assure you that rule breakers in that field will receive much worse than a detention from me."
>>
By the time Ginny collapsed on her bed that evening, she was more tired than she had ever remembered being. Not only was the quiz in Potions enough to sap most of her energy, but due to an unlucky accident during lunch in which she had attempted to magically secure a ribbon in her hair, she had instead caused the ribbon to ricochet across the hall, off the opposite wall, hit the Hufflepuff table where it upset a platter of drumsticks, and shoot over to the Slytherin table where it landed with an explosive force in a large bowl of soup, causing everyone in the centre of the table to be drenched with bits of chicken and carrots. And that wasn't even the worst part; the soup bowl had, quite unfortunately, been sitting in front of Millicent Bullstrode, a tall, burly, square-jawed girl who had seen the entire thing and, once she had shaken the vegetables from her hair, had chased Ginny out of the hall, who already had a head start once she realized what had happened. As if that hadn't been bad enough, everything had happened right under Dumbledore's nose, who had sent her a message in Herbology later that day, requesting her presence in his office on Friday night.
Ginny's head was spinning by the time she had finished reliving her day in her head that night, and although her body was tired and aching (both from Herbology and running from Millicent), it took a long time for her brain to deactivate and was nearly midnight by the time she slipped into a fitful slumber.
She dreamt that it was already Friday, and that she had missed her evening study session with Draco; Dumbledore, who was disappointed, had banned her from playing Quidditch that weekend, which she had been longing to do for a change of pace… after all, she was one of the new Gryffindor Chasers, and needed to practice regularly, she had argued with Dumbledore, but he turned into Hermione, who began to lecture her on the importance of finishing her homework on time… and then Hermione was taking her to the library, where Draco was waiting for her, his wand out, saying "Maybe I should just show you how the spell works, Weasel… I think green blisters would improve your face…" and he aimed a spell at her: she ducked –
And then Ginny awoke to find herself breathing raggedly, her legs tangled tightly in the bed sheets, and knew, with an aching dread, that she had yet another rough day ahead of her.
AN: More ancient reviews. Whee!
moony's number 1: Lol be patient, the story will turn... "interesting" later on.
Phaerie: wow thank you! lol as of now, "Bravisimo" is a word. don't worry, chapter four is coming soon!
Pamie884: As always, a very complimenting review on character development and intereaction. I'm very glad you're enjoying the story so much!
BRR: Madame Pince's hair stayed blue until Ginny realised that she had read her diary; after she received the ban, Madame Pince threatened to have her expelled if she didn't remove the curse. Needless to say, the librarian's hair was, though rather grudgingly, returned to its proper colouration. Good point though, I was wondering whether or not someone was going to comment on that.
Starriecat: wow you have set the record for the longest review I have yet received! it's good to have a critic who isn't afraid to speak their mind.
Katy's crazy maniaco character: heh yeah it's a little slow in the beginning, but it gets there eventually. by the way, it 'twas an excellent movie.
Hana the dragon: thanks, and don't worry, I just want to give the readers an idea of what's going on in Ginny's life so far to give her an in-depth feel of what her character is like. The pace will pick up in later chapters.
Rismonstar: Yay thanks so much for reviewing! I loved writing Snape and making him someone that Ginny loves to hate. (I'll probably put the other stories up sometime, but I've been busy lately and I had to get this chapter up today.)
Since some of you must have been wondering (and I know you have, because I have incredible mind powers that can see through the Internet), anyone who has been reviewing of late will be added on to either the seventh chapter review list, or the eighth. I haven't got any real plan for how to write the eighth chapter yet, so I may just put the new reviews into chapter seven for a quick fix.
