Chapter 2: The Art of Illusions

Fourth hour came faster than it had all year, or so Ginny thought. She walked in the classroom she'd been in only a few hours earlier and took her normal seat in the back of the class, invisible to the other handful of people in there with her.

Ginny could see Harry, Ron, and Hermione sitting together only a few tables ahead of her. Great she thought, a class with the infamous trio. Exactly what I wanted.

Flitwick scuttled into the classroom and cleared his throat.

"I would like everyone to know-" he began.

Oh crap. Ginny thought, her heart starting to race for what she thought he was going to do.

"That we have a new student with us now-"

I can't believe he's doing this. Please let me be dreaming.

"Let us greet her, shall we?" he finished.

Oh. No.

Flitwick raised his arm and indicated Ginny in the back of the class who was sinking farther and farther down in her seat, wishing she were invisible.

"Miss Weasley," he said happily.

Ginny could feel her face getting red while every head turned to see her. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all giving her questioning looks while Ginny just tried to ignore them. From her brief glance up, Ginny saw the remaining people that were now her classmates. There were four Ravenclaws, one whom Ginny recognized to be Padma Patil, one Hufflepuff, and a Slytherin: Draco Malfoy.

Great. Ginny thought to herself. What have I gotten myself into?

"Let's all be welcoming and make Miss Weasley feel as comfortable as possible." Flitwick finished.

Ginny felt like she would die as all eyes remained on her. Finally, Flitwick began today's agenda and one by one, they all turned their attention to him. Today they were assigned to do simple enlarging charms.

Maybe this won't be that difficult she thought.

Everyone began and shifted their focus to the wooden cubes placed in front of each student. Ginny was about to begin when she noticed something: the whole class was absolutely silent. She searched the room to look for someone saying an incantation, but there was nothing.

"Miss Weasley," Flitwick said from beside her. Ginny practically jumped out of her chair, not even realizing he'd strolled down the aisle towards her, "well, you many have noticed that no one is saying anything." Ginny nodded slowly still searching the room. "That's because every Friday we work on our ability to perform a spell without saying the incantation aloud. When done in the quietness of one's head," he said tapping his own head, "there are many advantages. This skill can come in handy in the outside world, so we work on it in here to perfect that ability."

Ginny let everything he said soak in as she tried to comprehend it all.

"All you have to do," Flitwick explained, "is concentrate hard, harder than you normally would, and imagine the incantation. Hear it in your head, envision it in your mind, and then flick your wand. All the while with your mouth zipped tightly shut!"

He gave her a quick smile and then moved throughout the class.

Alright Ginny thought. Imagine the incantation. She sighed and concentrated strongly on the little wooden cube. Engorgio! She thought.

Nothing.

Engorgio!

Again, nothing.

More than 30 minutes later Ginny was beginning to get frustrated. Her wooden cube sat in front of her unchanged.

Come on Gin she urged herself. Picture it. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly and screamed Engorgio in her head. Slowly she opened her eye. Nope. The cube remained unchanged.

A couple instances Flitwick had walked over to her, observing the red-faced Ginny, who was silently urging her stupid cube to get larger…or to do something. He offered no help or suggestions so Ginny spent the rest of the class working herself up. When it was finally over Ginny slowly packed up her stuff.

I can always learn them she though disappointedly.

"Miss Weasley," Flitwick said. Ginny hardly jumped this time. She was getting used to the fact that he just showed up places without her even noticing. "We have this class Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. You'll be needing the new class text, but if need be, you can borrow one of the school's books. Oh, and here is the list of this month's charms that you need to be able to do. See me in a month, or see me earlier if you learn them before then. Okay?"

He shoved the list into her hand and Ginny barely glanced down at it.

"Professor-" but before she could argue that she wasn't ready for this class, he was already out the door, leaving Ginny alone with her thoughts…or at least, she thought she was alone.

"You know," drawled a familiar voice, "you pretty much suck at nonverbal magic."

Ginny looked up to see the one and only Draco Malfoy still in the classroom. Ginny opened her mouth to retort but then bit it back. Well, Mr. Malfoy, you suck at life she said in the confines of her mind.

"What?" he asked, "No clever comeback?" He got up and stepped closer to her. When Ginny looked up again, he was only inches from her. She jumped in surprise. He snorted at the look of horror on her face. "Stupid Weasley," he said shaking his head as he waltzed out of the room.

Ginny remained rooted to the spot allowing her breathing to retain it's normal pace. Finally, she left, off to the common room to spend her free block working on her homework.

However, getting her work done wasn't exactly as easy as she thought it'd be. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been waiting there for her, and as soon as she entered the common room, they pounced.

"What are you doing in our class?" Ron demanded angrily. She just looked at him incredulously. Is it that difficult for him to be proud of me?

"What Ronald means," Hermione said throwing Ron a look, "is what are you doing in the advanced charms class?"

"No!" Ron practically shouted, "What I mean is, what the bloody hell are you doing in our class?"

"RON!" both Harry and Hermione shouted at him.

"Gin?" Harry said comfortingly. She looked into his shockingly green eyes, the eyes she'd been so obsessed with only years before. He nudged her arm encouragingly.

"Well," she said hesitantly, "Professor Flitwick asked me to stay after class today. In my normal class, that is, and he offered me the chance to move on up to the advanced class. I guess he was under the impression that I could handle it."

"Well obviously he was wrong!" Ron shouted.

"RON!" Hermione and Harry yelled again and glared at the red head.

"I know," Ginny whispered as she sat down in a chair at the nearest table.

Ginny saw Harry and Hermione exchange looks out of the corner of her eye. Hermione nodded her head and Harry grabbed Ron by the arm and dragged him away. Hermione slowly sat down in the chair next to Ginny's.

"Ginny?" she asked hesitantly. Hermione gingerly set her hand on Ginny's shoulder. "Gin, are you okay?"

Ginny sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine." She smiled and Hermione didn't press her.

"He asked you to be in the advanced class for a reason," She said as she was standing up to leave, "Don't forget that. Oh and don't let your brother get to you. He's just jealous, really."

That night Ginny didn't stroll around the grounds, like the previous night. She still couldn't sleep, but she didn't dare wander outside because of her fear of that shadowed figure. Instead, she lay in her bed and remembered happier times. Days when she was genuinely glad to be alive. When did it all change? She wondered. But of course, she already knew the answer.

Things had been changing all along, but last summer was when she really noticed any of it. Her parents were always worrying and bothering with her older brothers but never cared to glance at her. Her mother once said that she was lucky Ginny was so perfect.

"I'm not perfect." Ginny whispered to the darkness.

Mrs. Weasley had said Ginny was such a good daughter. She never had to worry about Ginny in the least bit. Unfortunately, that meant that Ginny didn't get any attention or praise either. There were rare occasions when one of her parents would be scolding one of their sons, and they would say something like "Why can't you be more like Ginny?" or "Look at Ginny. She doesn't behave like that." This would've normally made Ginny happy, but her brothers came to resent her a little. Sometimes they would even make snotty jokes to each other about her "perfection".

Throughout the summer, things just got worse and worse. She would indeed try to be perfect, excelling in everything she did, and doing all the things her parents asked of her, but it didn't make a difference. Then her father got caught up with work. He was never home, and when he was, things didn't go well. She'd lie awake in her small room at the Burrow and listen to her parents argue in the room directly next to hers. None of her brothers ever noticed or heard anything…but she did.

The whole household was always tense, but then Harry and Hermione arrived to stay until school started. At first things were great, and Ginny thought life was finally getting better. But then the trio started ditching her and making lame excuses so she wouldn't go with them on their summer adventures. So Ginny ended up spending the summer wandering about alone.

She shut herself up and hid all her emotions from everyone. She'd lie awake, even then, and promise herself the same thing every night. If she were what they wanted, if she were perfect, then they'd notice her. Then they would care. And that's what she did, but she was still waiting for someone…anyone to notice.

Draco wrapped his cloak tighter around his body. Lately, the nights were getting cooler and cooler. Fall was definitely affecting Hogwarts.

Draco walked down the bank of the lake, looking for the same thing as always…or, same person really. Only a month ago, at the beginning of the year, Draco had snuck out of his dormitory to wander the grounds. He hadn't been able to sleep and had decided to take a nice nighttime walk. He had camped himself against a tree trunk and stared off into the distance.

That's when he'd heard it. At first he tensed and grabbed his wand, waiting several minutes to try and identify the noise. It's then that he realized that it was someone crying, a girl crying. He had searched the bank and spotted the person about thirty feet away. In the darkness it was impossible to tell who it was, so he just stared at her outline, her fragile body huddled together against the wind and whatever hardship she was fighting. He watched silently as her body shuddered, and he came accustomed to her small hiccoughs that always signaled she was almost done letting it all out.

He would come outside every night, hoping she'd be there. And at least once a week, he'd spend the night watching this fragile being cry herself to exhaustion. Draco surprised himself in these moments. He had never really cared about the well being of others, or for any emotions they may be feeling. But sitting in the darkness and watching this girl, he felt compelled to help her. Somewhere inside, deep inside, he wanted to help.

A couple times, the girl had even stayed until the faintest light shown over the trees. At these times he would shift in his hiding spot behind the grouping of trees and try to get a glimpse of her face, but she always hung her head low and wrapped a small shawl around her head. Last night he felt compelled to do something.

The girl arrived at the lake and sat in her usual spot. He had shifted and shifted in his spot, the anticipation getting to him. A couple of times, she lifted her head as if she heard something. And even before she began crying, Draco had stepped out from his cover. He hadn't even meant to, but his desire to see her face overcame his sensibility.

He'd walked purposefully over to her and she had stood up. But once he was getting close enough to see her face, she ran away, and he didn't follow.

Saturday came strong and warm. Ginny didn't even remember falling asleep, but somehow she managed it. She woke up to the sun filling the room and coming in through the crack in her curtains. She got up and dressed slowly. Skipping breakfast, Ginny wandered out onto the grounds she knew fairly well.

The sun was shining, and Ginny delicately sat down in a nice patch of grass. It was a beautiful autumn day. The air was crisp and clean, and the sun warmed the normally cool temperature. Ginny pulled the list of spells she'd gotten from Flitwick out of her robes and read it over for the first time.

There were a couple spells on there that she knew already, thanks to the DA two years ago. She'd have to practice them maybe once or twice to make sure she still could do them.

"Reducto…protego…stupefy…silencio," Ginny murmured, reading off the list. Next to each spell or charm was a short description of what it did. So Ginny spent her morning reviewing the spells she knew and trying to learn the new ones.

On her first try, Ginny got most of the spells that she already knew, and she learned most of the other ones just as easily. The morning passed, relatively quickly and peacefully…that is until a certain someone interrupted her.

"You call that a severing charm?" Malfoy drawled from behind her. Once more Ginny jumped in surprise. She cursed herself under her breath from getting frightened so easily. "Well?" he said walking around to her front.

"Yes," she answered quietly.

"Yes?" he asked incredulously, "That's all you have to say?"

She held back her retort, but only barely.

"Boy, Weasley, you're pathetic," he scoffed at her, just egging her on.

That's it she thought.

"Well, what the hell do you want me to say?" she cried outraged. After Ginny realized what she did, she gasped in horror her hand covering her mouth. She wondered how Malfoy had gotten to her so easily.

He smirked at her after she finished her little outburst. "Pretty bad temper you have there, Weasel." He smirked, "You might want to work on that." He sank down to the ground across from her. "This," he said, "is how it's done."

Draco then raised his wand and pointed it at one of the sticks Ginny had collected. He flicked his wand and the stick broke cleanly and perfectly in two. Ginny looked at her own severed stick. It wasn't as perfect as his was…but it was pretty darn close.

"Wait," Ginny stammered just realizing something, "you didn't say the incantation at all!"

Draco smirked and said, "Yes, Weasley, some of us can actually perform nonverbal spells just as well as we can verbal spells."

She glared at him, grabbed her things and promptly left, with him still sitting on the ground, slightly shocked. Ginny fumed the rest of the day over the fact that he could perform the spell better than she could AND he could do it nonverbally. Jerk she thought, he just has to ruin everyone's day, doesn't he?

Today had been very odd for Draco. Well, it had started off normal enough. He had woken up only after a few hours of sleep and had eaten breakfast in the Great Hall. Afterward, he'd set off towards the grounds ditching Crabbe and Goyle along the way. He'd only just stepped out into the autumn sun when he noticed her.

The littlest Weasley was sitting by herself and performing a variety of spells in a secluded area of the grounds. He didn't know why he felt compelled by her, but before he knew it he was standing behind her saying something, which surprised both him and her.

The whole event was odd and slightly uncomfortable for him. He was rather rude and snooty to the Weasley, but it was different somehow.

Maybe it was because whenever he ticked-off one of her brothers they would promptly explode at him, but she held it all back. He saw the great amount of control that flooded across her face whenever he sent a wave of insults at her.

But there was that one instance when she totally snapped. He smiled slightly, thinking about it now. Her eyes had flashed dangerously as she yelled at him. When she had realized what she had done, her eyes lost their spark, and resumed their placid innocence.

Wait, Draco stopped himself. What on earth am I doing, thinking about a Weasley?

He stopped his own train of thought and focused on other things.

Like he said earlier, today had just been weird.

Sunday and Monday passed by in a whir to Ginny. She'd been swamped in work and slept restlessly. She still didn't dare go out at night, so she just tossed and turned in her bed.

And now she was seated in the back of her charms class, waiting and dreading for their new lesson. Flitwick arrived just on time and started speaking right away.

"Today we will be learning about an odd branch of charms," he informed them. "It is sometimes connected with transfiguration, but it is truly related with charms." Here he paused before continuing. "This ability isn't really changing or transfiguring the appearance of something…or someone." He then took a wooden cube from the nearby box and Ginny glared at it, remembering all too well how it had refused to get larger for her last Friday.

"What we're doing," Flitwick continued, "is creating an illusion." He muttered under his breath and the wooden cube turned into a bright, blue ball. "The mind," Flitwick continued, looking at his students, "is very easily fooled. You all see this as a ball. It bounces," he said throwing the ball to the ground and then catching it, "like a ball, but not because it is a ball. Your minds see it bounce because that's what they are fooled into thinking."

He stopped and let the class soak in this new information before continuing, "This is still, in fact, a wooden cube. Depending on the strength of the spell, there are certain ways in which it can be broken. One, "he said tossing the ball/cube to Harry, who gasped, "is by touch."

Harry rotated the ball in his hands in awe. Ginny leaned forward, trying to get a better look at it. It still looked like a blue ball to her.

"Pass it around, Mr. Potter," Professor Flitwick said with a smile, "let's see if the rest of the class can see what is really there."

One by one, the students gazed in awe as they touched the ball/cube. When Ginny got it, she was confused. It still looked and felt like a ball…then she gasped. She was now looking at a small, wooden cube. One second it had been a ball and when she blinked, it turned cube on her.

"There are some illusion spells, however," Flitwick continued, retrieving the cube from Ginny's hands, "that cannot be broken by anyone but the spell caster."

Once again, Flitwick turned the wooden cube into a ball. He then passed it around the class once more, and when Ginny got it she paused. She stared down at her hands where she knew a cube should be…but instead, there was just a bright, blue ball.

"You could say that I just transfigured the cube," Flitwick began again, and took the ball from Ginny once more. He smiled at them, "but I promise you that I did not. Illusions don't change the objects; they simply pull a layer of magic over the objects to mask what's really there."

He waved his wand over the ball and it changed back into a cube. "For a caster to take off the illusion, all they need to do is wave their wand like so," he demonstrated, "and simply imagine what you know is there. It's easy to believe that what you're looking at is really what's there, but that's not always the case. You need to realize what you're seeing is truly an illusion."

"Alright," he said to the class, "the incantation you'll be using is Ilusio. For this, I want you to get into partners to practice. This way you can check with each other that the illusion is really what it's meant to be." He started to move about but then added, "Oh, and try to work on the strength of your illusion. Be able to control it and make it stronger or weaker."

The class automatically went into pairs, and there was only one person left partner-less. Oh lord, Ginny thought. Please, let me be imagining this.

But no, it was no illusion. Draco Malfoy sat at his table alone and, it seemed to Ginny, to be waiting for her. Ginny sighed and grabbed her books and sat down dramatically in the seat next to Draco.

"Well, well, well," he smirked at her, "looks like you're stuck with me."

"Looks like it," she snarled at him and then stopped. Why does he get me so worked up she asked herself again. "Look, can we just do this without any arguing?" She looked at him with big round eyes. "Please," she added.

He didn't say anything but just went up to get the cubes and Ginny smiled slightly, taking his silence as a "yes". He sat back down with one cube in front of him and she looked at him curiously.

"What?" he scoffed, "You didn't actually think I'd get one for you, did you?"

Ginny glared at him and then went up there to get her own wooden cube. This is going to be a long class she thought to herself.

And it was. Time ticked slowly by and Ginny and Draco argued on and off. Ginny was so frustrated that she was just barely able to perform the spell. She was just beginning to learn how to control the illusion's strength when Professor Flitwick began to speak again.

"Good work, class!" he said enthusiastically. "You've all successfully created illusions, but this isn't the end. For the next couple of weeks we'll be learning how to control the strength of the illusions, and we'll gradually move on to more complex objects." He paused and the added, "If you all can do this we might even work on human illusions!"

The rest of the class murmured excitedly with each other, but Ginny just groaned. That meant more weeks of being Malfoy's partner. Great. She gathered her things and left before anyone else and spent the rest of the day cooling off. Again, she asked herself the question of "what the hell am I doing?".

A/N: Alright, that's chapter two!

Thanks for all the reviews! I really appreciate it! Keep up the reviewing, and I'll keep writing!