CUTTING AND JOINING
Disclaimer: This is a non-profit tribute to the works of JK Rowling who created and, together with her publishers and licensees, owns the characters and settings elaborated herein.
A/N: Spoilers, seventh year fic, begun after OotP and not compatible with HBP or DH. Thanks to all my reviewers and especially to my previewers, Bellegeste and Lady Memory.
Ginny looked up as the common room door opened and pulled Colin aside almost before he came in. "Was it all right? Did he notice anything?"
Forging a new photo to replace the one they didn't want Snape to see had been as simple as duplicating two other negatives, cutting them apart in the same place, and joining one pair of opposite halves with a quick Reparo.
"Not here," he muttered, glancing around the crowded noisy room. "Let's walk."
"Tell me again what Hermione said about liking Snape," he said, when they'd escaped the scrutiny of portraits and people alike. It was a raw breezy day, and Ginny shivered.
"Why? What did he do?"
"Nothing unusual. Looked, scowled, made sarky comments. Didn't catch us out, though. Lucky he was looking at the photos and not my face." His lips pursed. "He didn't do or say anything odd, not anything, but I think he's completely batty about her."
Ginny laughed. "Batty, full stop. But something must have happened. Try to think. What did he do?"
"I can't believe we didn't get it at the time." He thrust his hands deeper in his pockets. "He came, Ginny. She invited him to a party and he came. And he brought us. If that's not suspicious behaviour, I don't know what is. He hates Gryffindors and he willingly spent three hours in our company."
"Malfoy was there."
"If he wanted to spend time with Malfoy, he didn't need Hermione's party to do it. Tell me what she told you."
"Not much. Just that she liked him and she invited him first. Before us, I mean." She grimaced. "She must have invited Ron and Harry first, of course, but they can't leave Italy till their Exchange program finishes. Imagine if they'd been there!"
"I bet he'd have got worse than rabbit's ears from them," Colin said, his face lighting up with wistful glee. "Imagine the pictures I could have got."
"Imagine spending the rest of the year in detention disembowelling newts," Ginny reminded him.
"It'd be worth it though." Colin's grin faded. "Only Hermione'd kill us. You know she would."
Ginny shuddered. "She can't fancy him. He's so old and he's such a git and – and he doesn't wash his hair."
"And he's a Slytherin and he used to be a Death Eater and he's the nastiest teacher we have, yeah, I know. But does she care about any of that? Now, I mean? To tell you the truth, I can't imagine why she'd have invited him to meet her parents if she didn't fancy him. I mean, they can't have been friends for more than, what? Not even three months. It's just one of those things, you know? Who you fancy never makes sense to anyone else."
"We can't let her. He's horrible." Ginny stopped, turning her face to the wind. Colin stopped too.
"What can you do? She'd never listen."
"I don't know," she said. "But I'll think of something. I always do."
A/N "Sarky" is a slang abbreviation of sarcastic.