A/N: Thank you so much to reviewers! I love you all. Sorry, but this chapter has also been divided into two, as it just go tooooo long. Mah bad. P Early February. Ginny and Draco prepare a potion. Myrtle declares her love. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I am not lucky enough to be as smart enough as to invent these characters myself. They are not mine. Too bad. –pout-

The Stone Speaks

Twenty-Eight: Burned

GINNY

Valentine's Day. It was only ten days away, and Ginny had used 'I'm getting something ready for Valentine's Day' as an excuse on Harry at least six times. He was already suspicious, and, as the damned celebration day drew nearer, Ginny realized that she didn't have anything, much less something that took six days to prepare.

I can't even think of anything that takes six days to prepare, Ginny thought desperately. Well. She could, but they were hardly romantic. Things like taming a dragon, befriending a Slytherin (Ginny smiled at this), creating a portrait – "that's it!" Ginny cried. I could paint a picture of us.

She ran down towards her studio, already sketching out designs in her head. By a fountain? In the forest? By the Lake? In the Common Room? Then a thought struck Ginny. She'd have to tell Harry that she painted it; she'd have to let everyone know about her secret. Harry wouldn't be able to keep the secret anyway.

"I could pretend that someone else made it," Ginny suggested to herself as she stood, contemplating ideas, in the narrow passageway before she entered her 'broom cupboard'. However, Ginny knew that giving away the credit of one of her prints would be like giving away a very small child – she would eventually blurt out: "I did it, I did it!"

Ginny huffed out her breath. What else took six days to make or get? "Er…" she said, drumming her fingers against the wood of her door. A knitted scarf? A rare book? A special quill? A potion – a potion. She would turn up on Valentine's Day with a very romantic potion that takes a long time (allegedly) to make.

Oh God. What is a romantic potion takes six days to make, but can secretly be made in about two hours? Ginny had no idea – for that, she needed:

"Draco," Ginny gasped, grabbing his shoulder, breathless from running around the school for thirty-odd minutes, searching for him. She had even asked Sanchia, that stupid brainless ditz who didn't have enough brains to fill an inkpot, let alone her big, stupid, pretty head – but The Bimbo, as Ginny had now christened her, only became extremely angry and defensive of Draco.

"Whoa, what's your problem?" Draco asked, turning. A few passers-by were staring pointedly at them, and Ginny dragged him around a corner, away from their jeers and glaring. Draco raised one slim, pale eyebrow at her hand clutched around his elbow; she hastily let go, turning a peachy shade of pink.

"Draco…" she said, pulling out the word like bubblegum, grinning at him. "You're just so smart and could do absolutely anything you wanted-"

"What do you want?" asked Draco boredly, smirking at her.

Ginny put on a look a mock-astonishment. "Wh-what?" she gasped. "I don't want anything, Draco, darling, surely it's enough that sometimes I just feel in an appreciative mood and want to compliment you?" she simpered.

Draco looked down at her, an amused expression on his face. "Wow, 'darling', no less. This must be big," he commented.

"Er, I need you to help me make a romantic potion that should, in theory, take six days to make," Ginny blurted out, batting her short eyelashes hopefully at him. She knew that fluttering her eyelashes hadn't worked with Sanchia, but knew? She could give it a shot.

Draco made a funny sort of gasp noise. "Oh-my-God," he said, clapping a hand to his heart, "you wanted something. How – how – did I know?"

"Oh, pleease, Draco," Ginny begged, tugging his sleeve like a toddler who wants her toy, "you know you want to."

"Want to what? Help you make an illegal potion?" Draco said wryly.

Ginny grinned cheekily up at him. "Yes?"

Draco smiled at her. "There is nothing I would rather spend my time doing," he said. "May I ask, do you even know which 'romantic potion' you intend to make? And why does it only take six days in theory?" he frowned.

Ginny bit her lip, white flashing against the pink. "Erm. Well, all the time I spent with you, I told Harry that I was preparing his Valentine's Day present… and now I need something romantic that takes six days to make – in theory, because now we don't have six days. We only have four. Aand… I have no idea what to make." She beamed. "That's where you come in!"

Draco groaned and rolled his eyes. "Ah, well," he said simply, and began muttering under his breath, counting things off his fingers. Wondering what on earth was going on, Ginny stood and watched his for a good two minutes before he straightened up, nodding in satisfaction. "The Potion of Everlasting Love," he said, "it takes eight days to make, which is close enough… but if we squash it a little, we can probably fit it into three."

Ginny grinned. "Great. What can I do to help?"

Draco held up a hand to silence her, in a way very similar to Professor Snape. "This is an illegal potion, Ginny. It can be used badly, so we're only going to make a tiny amount – and we need somewhere to hide it," he said thoughtfully.

"Moaning Myrtle's bathroom," said Ginny immediately, "that's where Ron, Harry and Mione went to brew a Polyjuice-" she remembered that she wasn't supposed to tell Draco. "Er. Never mind," she said hurriedly, and waved her hand for Draco to go on.

Draco regarded her for a moment, knowing that she was avoiding telling him something, but he didn't ask her about it. "I need you to steal a cauldron from Professor Snape," he finally said.

"What – why?"

"Ginny, this is going to take three days to make. You have Potions twice. I have Potions once. We wouldn't be able to use our own cauldrons – we need to steal one of Snape's," Draco explained, as if it were extremely obvious.

"Okay, okay," Ginny said, reddening. Then, she noticed something. "You know my time-table?"

Draco stared at her, confused; then he remembered what he had said, and turned slightly pink. "Erm," he said, not quite sure what to say, "um, yeah."

Ginny felt her cheeks burning, but she nodded. Ignoring her flaming face, she asked, "how am I supposed to steal a cauldron? I can't just waltz in there and say, 'oh, hello, Professor Snape, how are you today and by the way, can I steal one of your cauldrons to make an illegal potion?'!"

"Fair point," Draco said, but he wasn't really listening as he was scribbling a long list down. "Just… sneak in, I guess."

Ginny glared at his unhelpfulness. "Fine," she snapped, irritated at his attitude, "I will." She stood, and, moving so fast that her scarlet ponytail struck Draco's shoulder, turned, before storming towards the dungeons.

Draco is so annoying, sometimes, I swear he's as bad as Harry. This isn't going to be easy, stealing a cauldron from under the nose of a teacher who would like nothing better than to expel me. But I'm doing it! And I'm not complaining! Draco could help, but no. NO, Draco's too good for that.

She paused to push open the heavy dungeon door, and stepped down into the enveloping coldness. Hugging herself, Ginny's breath came out in tiny swirls of white as she hurried down the worn, slate steps. Arriving at the large, dark, oak door, Ginny hesitated; taking a moment to gather her courage, she peered inside.

No-one.

Ginny glanced backwards down the corridor, and then, touching the ever-present amulet, where it sat under her home-knitted green jumper, and ducked inside. She stole through the grand Potions chamber, weaving between desks, hopping across Professor Snape's raised dais, and then pushed lightly on the door marked 'CAULDRON STORE ROOM'. It didn't open – but then again, she had hardly expected it to.

"Alohamora," Ginny whispered; there was a click and a creak, but nothing else disturbed the disconcerting silence that swallowed up the Potions classroom. She fiddled with the door handle for a second, and then the door swung open with a long, low groan that Ginny was sure would alert the grumpy Professor to her being there.

She stepped into the gloom, lit her wand, and cast its slightly-dimmed glow around the shelves. She selected a large, sturdy-looking brass cauldron, muttered a Cloaking spell and a Levitation Charm, before hastening out again, clicking the store-room door behind her. Ginny rushed up three flights of stairs to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and caused a lot of alarm to Myrtle and Draco when the door suddenly crashed open and a floating cauldron, seemingly self-manned, zoomed in.

"Ta da," said Ginny, lowering it to the floor quite clumsily, and wavering into view.

"Wh – Ginny – where'd you come from?" Myrtle demanded, clutching her chest. "You can't just appear from the middle of nowhere; you're not a ghost and you certainly can't Apparate."

Ginny glowered. "I just did, okay?" she said with a sigh. "I got the cauldron." It was quite obvious that she had stolen the cauldron, but she felt as though she needed to announce it.

No-one looked up.

Well, Myrtle smiled and began to chat to her, so technically it wasn't 'no-one' it was just… 'Draco'. It still annoyed Ginny that he wasn't paying attention to what a wonderful cauldron she'd taken, though she wasn't sure why.

"- I mean, can you believe it? Nick? And me?" Myrtle concluded, with a dreamy sigh. "I hope so. He's so amazing."

Ginny frowned, only catching the last few sentences, and totally bamboozled as to what Myrtle was talking about. "Sorry, what did you say?" she asked apologetically.

Moaning Myrtle scowled at being ignored for a whole three sentences, but, seemingly, nothing could dampen her mood, and she quite delightedly repeated herself. "I said, Ginny, that when I was quite bravely venturing out of my toilets, I met Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington. He was rather surprised to see me, but we had a very long, polite conversation before he had to go and see the Bloody Baron about something Peeves had done. And… well, before he left…" Myrtle giggled. "…he said that he liked my glasses."

Ginny's hazel eyes widened for a minute, and she considered laughing – but that would be mean, and it would probably hurt Myrtle's feelings. "Er, Myrtle," said Ginny, "do you, by any chance… fancy Nearly Headless Nick?"

Myrtle looked incensed. "For one thing," she said haughtily, "his name is not 'Nearly Headless' Nick. It is Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington. For another thing, I don't fancy him. It's not one of those stupid girly crushes." She made a face about 'stupid girly crushes', and Ginny blushed, remembering a 'stupid girly crush' that she had once had over Harry.

"If it's not a stupid girly crush," asked Ginny, "then can I ask what the hell it is?"

Myrtle thought about this for a moment. Then, swooning, with the back of one hand to her forehead, she declared dramatically, "it's love!"

And, rather interestingly, Draco's head snapped up, joining the conversation immediately. "What's love?" he asked, very sharply, and, for some reason, his ears were becoming an unappealing shade of purple.

"You and Sanchia," retorted Ginny – Draco blushed. "Mind your own business." Ginny turned back to Myrtle. "So, let me get this straight. You're in love… with Nearly H -" (Myrtle glared daggers at Ginny) "I mean, Sir Nicholas," Ginny hastily corrected herself.

Draco looked up again, snorting. "Myrtle's in love with Nearly Headless Nick?" he guffawed, holding his sides with laughter.

Myrtle's grey eyes quickly grew irate and violent. "Don't call him Nearly Headless Nick!" she screeched. "And what's wrong with being in love with him?!" she said in an acid tone.

"Yes, and, Draco, as far as love goes, you're hardly one to talk," Ginny said coolly, "need I remind you of Pansy Parkinson and the Ditz known as your soon-to-be fiancée, Sanchia?" She raised an eyebrow.

Draco suddenly shut up, looking very sullen.

"I didn't think so. Get back to your potion ingredients," Ginny smirked, and she returned her attention to Myrtle. "What are you going to do about this, then? You can't just float around throwing out love declarations, you know."

"Aw, really?" Draco piped up, pouting. "That was my whole theme for Valentine's Day. Dress up as Cupid, flutter around, and shoot arrows saying 'I LOVE YOU' up everybody's -"

"Draco," said Ginny warningly. "Back to your potion!"

Draco pulled a stupid face at her, but hunkered down and continued crushing, cutting, and mixing various animal and plant parts. There was a moment of almost-hush as he fiddled around and the two girls, one dead, one alive, gossiped about boys, before Draco sat back on his heels, and said, "Gather around, if you please."

Myrtle glared at him for interrupting her, but Ginny nudged her, and they crouched beside Draco. "Yes?"

"Most of the ingredients are quite standard, and I have them all prepared here," said Draco, indicating the many laid out components. "However, it's the ones that I don't have – so to say, the Class A substances that make this potion illegal – I need you both to get for me. Luckily, they're not needed until the later stages of the potion, so you have some time to get it while the standard elements of the brew get ready."

Ginny looked over the things spread out before her, and then looked at Draco's notes. He was pouring a steady stream of scaldingly hot water into the cauldron from the tip of his wand, while scrabbling about with his other hand for a cauldron base-and-tripod-set that he could prop the cauldron on and light the fire underneath.

He positioned everything carefully, and then said, "Okay, here's the list of the things I need… acromantula eggs… basilisk scale… erumpent horn fluid… crushed manticore sting… and, uh, dried infected-pus from a werewolf bite…" Draco grimaced.

Ginny made a face at Myrtle and Draco. "Yummy."

"Well, Potter's drinking it, not me, so I don't really care," shrugged Draco with a teasing grin at Ginny to let her know he was kidding. "Anyway, the acromantula eggs, the sting, and pus from the werewolf bite can be found in Professor Snape's private stores, so you'll need to get in there and steal those, Ginny, or Myrtle."

"Where are his private stores?" Myrtle asked.

"Good question. Find out."

Ginny and Myrtle exchanged dubious looks. This plan didn't seem very fool-proof, and, the fools that the two girls were, saw themselves most likely crashing through it in a whirlwind of chaos.

"However, the basilisk scale… well. Ginny knows where that is," Draco said, giving her a meaningful glance.

Ginny frowned; Myrtle said crossly, "Er, hello? So do I! I mean, the entrance does happen to be in the toilet that I've lived in for the past sixty-six years!"

Draco shrugged. "Okay, Myrtle knows where it is too," he added for good measure, "and I don't. Happy? Now, the erumpent horn fluid is going to be more difficult to find. It is a Class-A+ Non-Tradable Substance, and therefore probably isn't just going to be sitting at the bottom of some first-year's trunk. I have, however, found out that Mundungus Fletcher will be visiting Professor Tonks tomorrow and arriving by Floo Powder at approximately six o'clock, so I recommend you waylay him in a nearby fireplace, deal bargains, and order that you have the erumpent horn fluid by the next day."

Ginny raised her eyebrows. "How do you know all of this?" she demanded. "You've only had fifteen minutes when I wasn't standing right next to you, you haven't had time to snoop."

"Tonks was complaining to Professor Sinistra very loudly in the staff room as I came up," Draco grinned. "With a few Loudening charms, I'm unstoppable."

"Definitely," said Myrtle cynically, smirking.

"I'll deal with Dung," said Ginny, "and Myrtle, if you could float around, maybe get the Bloody Baron to slip a few secrets about Professor Snape's private stores." She winked. "Maybe Nicholas could help you."

Myrtle said very quickly, "Yes!" and then her grey skin turned paler, showing a blush rise on her dead cheeks.

Draco nodded. "I'll be here for most of my free time now, so if you want to find me about anything, I'll probably either be here, making the potion, or perhaps in the library, researching the potion." He looked pointedly at Ginny. "This is going to take up all of my next three days. For who do I have that to thank?"

Ginny unblushingly raised her hand, and grinned at him. "Thank you, though, you know you're wonderful," she teased, hugging his free arm.

"It's been said before," mumbled Draco jokingly, but his face was slightly pink, and for some reason Ginny felt extremely aware that she was very close to him – she leapt away as if he was on fire, and scooted to the other edge of the cauldron, feeling as though she might as well have been burned.

A/N: Aww. Ginny and Draco, sittin' in the the Whompin' Willow, … K-I-S-S-I-N-G. Lol. XD Please review.