Love's Talent
Chapter 9: Contestant Conditions
LunarianPrincess
A talent contest and performing class brings new alliances and blooming romance, but is a sinister force trying to prevent it from being successful?
Pairings: GW/DM; KS/DS; some HP/LL and HG/RW
Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter Universe/Characters, I do own Darien Solaro and Kassara Saravati. This is in Ginny's sixth year and some of the characters might seem OOC, but bear with me. Feedback is appreciated, but please try to keep criticism constructive, Thanx in advance
This isn't about condition as in agreement but well-being or state of health, yeah, thought I'd say that incase the title confused people.
- - - - - -
Last Chapter-------
"I guess, I don't think it would be that big of a deal, but you're right my brother and Harry would blow it out of proportion," Ginny nodded absently. She was already thinking of what she was going to do. Ari and Honey waved at Kasi and exited the room, closing the door softly. Ginny thought about the things the girls had told her, she couldn't help thinking it but she didn't think that Malfoy was all evil. She had noticed a noble side while he had taught her to dance. He had been patient and relatively polite, she figured that Malfoy felt the same way she did about Harry, jealous that their own parents cared more about Harry than they did about them. She fell asleep thinking about how her life had turned upside-down, I mean she was relating to a Malfoy!
Now---------------
Ginny sat listlessly at breakfast. She grabbed a roll and tore a tiny piece off, she placed it in her mouth and chewed slowly.
"Well, I guess the morning person is gone, had a rough nights sleep, did we" Kasi chirped ironically. Ginny groaned before burying her head in arms. Kasi laughed at her friend's antics. Ginny grit her teeth and raised her head slowly to pierce her friend with a potent glare.
"Kasi, I am really not up to this now, maybe later you can tease me, okay?" she pleaded. She sipped her tea, grateful that it eased some of the throbbing in her head.
"Fine, well what classes do we have today?" Kasi asked, in a near whisper.
"Today we have Divination, oh joy, Occlumency, darn and Flying, something I can handle even in my state," Ginny told her. She began to cough and grabbed a small goblet of water and took a quick swig, this cut off her coughs. Ginny ate the rest of her roll and swallowed some more tea, by that time she was feeling nearly human. "Let's go it's not like we can avoid Firenze and Trelawney forever," she joked. She stood and managed a few steps before she felt nauseous, she gripped the chair nearest her and closed her eyes for a second.
"Hey Gin are you okay?" Kasi asked worriedly.
"Sure, I'll be fine in a sec," she swallowed a few times and the feeling passed. She opened her eyes and followed Kasi to the new room where Firenze and Trelawney taught together. Trelawney taught the group that would listen to her and Firenze taught the rest of the students. They found the room and sat in the corner. They leaned against the trees and lay in the grass, Ginny sighed in relief.
"Good morning students" Firenze said intensely. His inscrutable eyes swept the classroom. His eyes lingered on Ginny for a second too long. She was used to it, apparently the stars said a lot about her. Professor Trelawney swept in and motioned to the students.
"Good Morning, how have the fates treated us lately?" she asked in her breathy voice. "Very good, very good, well for those who will be entering my class today we start on the crystal ball," she said, pulling a medium sized crystal sphere from her voluminous sleeves.
"Those who will employ the centaur's method of divination will be reading wind patterns," he said dolefully. Some of the group stood and followed Trelawney to where she had set up tables and chairs at the other end of the massive room. Ginny and Kasi stayed waiting for Firenze to begin. He began teaching the ways of reading the signs in the air. It was quite interesting but very hard, he said it helped if the wind was flowing over something close to you. They were nearing the end of the lesson when Trelawney approached him. They seemed to be conversing on the schedule when Ginny saw the teacher's eyes glaze over.
"The evil one wants the Snake Charmer back, he sends the one made of stone, only one can save her. She will live with the one and with his own power they will defeat him. Fire and Ice will come together in love to defeat or all shall be in ruins" this voice was deep and scratchy. A second later Trelawney shook her head and coughed loudly. Firenze had stopped looking at Trelawney and was now staring at Ginny, she shivered and stood quickly. The class had ended so she left swiftly.
"What was that about?" Kasi asked awkwardly.
"I think Trelawney just made her third real prediction," she told her friend. "I wonder what it means?" Ginny asked herself. She led the way to Snape's room, Dumbledore had allowed Snape to teach Occlumency to one class, there were only a few people enrolled in the class. She walked in and chose a seat in the front to the side of the dungeon.
She looked around and saw Ron and Hermione. Neville sat next to Luna Lovegood who sat next to Harry. Behind them was a small group of more Ravenclaws clustered at a table. In the last row sat two Hufflepuffs one fifth year and one sixth year, looking very out of place. Along the side sat a large amount of Slytherins. As class was about to start Malfoy and Dare swept in sitting in the front of the classroom. Snape stalked in through a side door near his desk. His eyes swept the dungeon, narrowing when he saw Harry and his friends and widening almost unnoticeably when he saw Ginny and Kasi.
"This is Occlumency, I am going to teach you how to guard your memories and protect your mind. This will not be easy but I am sure a select few will be able to grasp the concept," he said scornfully. "Now, first things first, I will test you to see your abilities, now you are ranging from fifth year to seventh years so please try to keep up at least with your year, I will test you by house. First the two Hufflepuffs," he said this skeptically, as if doubting the headmaster had let them be in the class. "Harte, Shane and Fiz, Lizz, come to the front, the rest of you I want no distraction, do you understand me," he said imperiously, the students nodded and he addressed the two Hufflepuffs privately.
Ginny shook her head at Kasi, who looked like she wanted to talk. She grabbed a parchment and scribbled a quick note, 'he hates gryff's so don't talk we could lose points' Kasi nodded before pulling out her own parchment and beginning to copy down things that were on Snape's board about Occlumency. She watched the proceedings with the two Hufflepuffs, the boy went first. Snape said a word and poked his wand at him, the boy's eyes went blank and he whimpered. He dropped to his knees gasping, and Snape looked at him contemptuously. The girl glared at the professor and stepped forward. He looked faintly impressed by her defiance. He said the words and Ginny saw the girl's eyes go vague, she didn't fall to her knees though, and a second later she shook her head, as if clearing it. Snape looked at her before sending them to sit down.
"Let's see if the Ravenclaws can do much better than Ms. Fiz here, all of you stand here." He lined them up alphabetically. He started with the first, many of them went the same as Shane had, but a couple were strong like Lizz. Ginny took a breath and her throat closed, she started coughing uncontrollably. She took a few deep breaths when the spasm had passed and Kasi rubbed her back comfortingly. Snape finished with the Ravenclaws and called up the Gryffindors. Ginny felt miserable, her head felt like it was full of cotton and her throat was raw from the coughs.
"Miss Weasley, it is your turn," Snape said brusquely. She nodded and stepped forward. He said the spell and she felt herself fall in on her memories. She opened her eyes and found herself staring at Tom Riddle. He looked at her maliciously before grabbing her roughly. He said something in Parseltoungue and the huge basilisk appeared. Ginny's feelings of fear and humiliation quickly turned into anger for reliving these terrible memories. She took a breath and slammed a door in her mind. She blinked and found herself staring into Professor Snape's bemused and impressed eyes. He turned to the next student and continued down the line.
She took a breath and shook her head, her pain had intensified and her body felt weak. A few minutes later she sat down, Snape had called up Slytherin. Kasi looked at her in surprise, 'you didn't even flinch' she mouthed in wonder. She smiled wearily and laid her head down. A few minutes later her coughs caught up with her, she started hacking badly. She stood up intent on getting some water when she felt the world spin around her.
Okay responses to reviews, btw I love all of you who review so much, you really do make me feel like continuing, so that was a general thank you, moving on:
musicgirl141: I'm so glad! What about this one, was it too predictable? Can't wait to hear from you! Thanx for reviewing Midnight Sky, I am planning on writing a companion to explain the romance and courtship of the ferret and the vixen. Vivaciously can mean animatedly, and you can stand animatedly so I figured you could use it the same way, sorry if it didn't work though!
HyperCrazy: haha, that was funny, how did this chapter work? Did it make sense, or was it really weird?
Dracosbaby7: thanks for your review, I am going to work on writing a companion to Midnight Sky, if you have any ideas I'd love to hear them! Actually I seem to have hit a snag with, As It Seems, I have decided to go in a slightly different direction so all I've written so far has to be re-examined so it might be a while before I update that fic, sorry!
Okay, anybody I forgot, I am sooooooo sorry, thanx for all your support. Now please review, it really does help, I'm not lying!
Preview for next chapter:
"Malfoy!" she said in shock. "What do you think you're doing? You're going to hurt yourselves, put me down this instant!" she demanded indignantly.
"How am I going to hurt myself?" he asked her complacently. He shifted her so she was more comfortable, at the feeling of shifting she let out a small squeal. She dropped her robes and the spoon and bottle into her lap and looped her arms around his neck.
"I'm heavy, you could pull a muscle or hurt your back," she said quietly, her face flamed as she admitted her secret fear. To her chagrin he chuckled.
"You... are not... heavy," his statement was punctuated by chuckles. She stayed quiet as he navigated the stairs and passageways.
Please review