Chapter 3: Help Arrives
The illusion spells were going well for Ginny. She was now able to control the strength of her illusions very well. However, being partners with Draco was going down the tubes. She might actually enjoy the advanced class, if it weren't for him…and trying to learn nonverbal magic.
Ginny dreaded Fridays because it meant failing completely and miserably. Today was no exception.
"Would you stop it, Malfoy?" Ginny pleaded. She was once again partnered with Malfoy because of Flitwick's great idea that peer "help" would actually help. And it might've, except Malfoy had no intention of helping her in any way.
Today they were supposed to levitate the small cushions in front of them, nonverbally, of course. Ginny was having no success whatsoever, while Draco had his own cushion floating around them, occasionally making it poke or nudge Ginny.
Ginny grabbed the cushion as it was passing by her ear and slammed it on the table.
"Stop. It." She seethed. Ginny was getting used to lashing out around Malfoy. There was something about him that she just could not stand, and she would not let him push her around.
"Jealous, are we?" he smirked while levitating his cushion, without saying a word, of course. This time he made it smack her hard in the face.
"No," she said angrily, trying desperately to remain calm. "I would just like the opportunity to concentrate!"
"So," he said making his cushion nudge her continuously in the arm, "why don't you concentrate then?"
She grabbed the cushion and flung it at his over-large head, which relieved some of the anger that she had been building up all class period.
"That's not going to do anything, Weasley," he said quite unaffected by her out lash.
"Oh yeah?" Ginny asked. "Well, what if it were a cube?" She took her own cushion and muttered a strong illusion spell over it. A split second later Ginny was holding a wooden cube, or so it seemed. She held her arm up in a throwing position, ready to strike if provoked.
"Put it down." Draco ordered, tensing up in his seat. His smirk had disappeared rather quickly.
"Scared?" she asked laughing, "The Draco Malfoy is scared of poor, little me?" Ginny was rather enjoying this. She watched him slightly squirm, never taking his eyes off her hand.
"Just set it down," he growled at her.
"Fine," Ginny sighed, giving in, "have it your way." Slowly she lowered her "cube" and smiled triumphantly as she saw him physically relax.
Draco just glared at her angrily, upset with how she had gotten to him. How dare she!
"You're so pathetic, Weasley!" He snarled, trying to save his pride from anymore humiliation.
"Excuse me?" Ginny eyed him incredulously, her smile fading as he spoke.
"You heard me," Draco continued. "You. Are. Pathetic. You're stupid and worthless, and you're butt-ugly," he added for affect.
Ginny glared at him and felt her anger surging through her body. How dare he! She glanced down at her "cube" and imagined it lifting off the table and smacking him square in the nose.
"Got nothing to say?" Draco kept going, pushing her closer and closer to the edge. "You pathetic, muggle-lover. You are so-"
But at that moment Draco was cut off. He kept pushing and pushing her until Ginny snapped. She had mentally screamed at her "cube" to lift off the table and fly directly for his face. To her surprise, and to Draco's, it did. Her "cube" flew up and hit him on the nose, with quite some force too.
"Bloody hell!" Draco shouted standing up with his hand over his nose.
"I did it!" Ginny cried gleefully.
"What on earth is going on?" Flitwick asked, scuttling over to their table.
Oh crap Ginny thought.
"She," Draco seethed, pointing his finger at Ginny, "hit me with her cube!"
Ginny grabbed the "cube" from the table quickly and discreetly removed its illusion.
"Is this true, Miss Weasley?" Flitwick asked her gently.
"I don't know what he's talking about Professor." Ginny said, feigning innocence. "I mean, we're not even working with cubes," she pointed out.
"She's right." Flitwick said turning back to Draco, who still had his hand over his nose. Draco just glared at Ginny but said nothing.
"He might have imagined it was a cube, Professor," Ginny said while smirking at a very pissed-off Draco. "Maybe he was just confused. But how do your confuse a cushion," she said lifting hers up, "with a cube?'
If looks could kill, then Ginny Weasley would be dead. In that moment, Draco wanted nothing more than to whip out his wand and hex her and her little smirk into oblivion.
"I do admit thought," Ginny continued, her act of innocence now going into full motion, "that I did, indeed, hit Malfoy in the face." Flitwick turned to her in astonishment. "It's just that," Ginny said hurriedly, "I was so happy that I'd finally been able to perform a nonverbal spell, that I lost control."
She hung her head, faking her own shame.
"Alright," Flitwick said, glancing from Ginny to Draco, probably trying to figure out what really happened, "just carry on then."
Ginny waited until Flitwick had left and she heard Draco sit down. Through the curtain of her own red hair that had wrapped itself around her, she glanced up at him. He had lowered his hand, and there was a definite red mark on his nose where she had hit him.
"What?" she asked innocently, batting her eyelashes.
"You know bloody hell what." He growled at her.
"It's not my fault that your mind imagined a cube hitting you when it really was only a cushion," Ginny pointed out calmly.
He just glared at her in response, but he involuntarily noticed how great she looked in that moment. She was smiling slightly at him, a genuine smile too. And her eyes, which were normally dull and detached, were sparkling with mischief and pure happiness. Draco shook his head, ridding him of his thoughts of Ginny.
"Besides," she continued, her eyes lighting up even more as she spoke, "shouldn't you be congratulating me!" Now she full out smiled as she gazed into the distance, remembering her own success with her nonverbal spell.
"Congratulations," he muttered sarcastically.
The rest of the class Ginny and Draco kept deadly silent. Draco was fuming from the embarrassment Ginny had put him through, and Ginny was fuming because she couldn't successfully do another nonverbal spell. She kept throwing him jealous looks as he lifted and set down his own cushion without muttering a word. Ginny became even more frustrated as every second passed. By the time class was done, she practically jumped out her chair, ready to leave the stuffy classroom. Just as she reached the door Flitwick called her back.
"Miss Weasley," he called out to her, "a word, please."
Ginny grimaced. She turned on the spot dramatically and marched right up to his desk, waiting as patiently as she could for him to say something.
"I asked you," he said looking at her very seriously, "to be in this advanced class for a reason."
Ginny opened her mouth right away to apologize for her behavior, but he cut her off.
"I believe that you're a very talented witch," Ginny lowered her head feeling ashamed of her actions earlier.
"I'm sorry," she murmured quietly, head still bent.
"Now," Flitwick continued more gently this time, "do you still want to be in this class?"
Ginny nodded her head slowly. Even thought she knew it'd be extremely difficult, an offer like this one didn't come around too often. She knew that she needed to take advantage of it.
"Alright," he said, "then there are a few things that you'll need to do for me to allow you to continue with the advanced class. One, you must work on the day's assignment in class and nothing else."
Ginny flinched. She knew he was referring to the illusion trick that she had pulled earlier.
"And two," Flitwick continued, "you will be assigned a tutor to help improve your nonverbal skills."
Ginny looked up at him, mouth gaping open in shock. Me? her mind screamed. Need a tutor? He'd mentioned the possibility of a tutor before, but she had hardly taken him seriously. Ginny was an excellent student who always understood what she was learning…except now she reminded herself. Still, she had hardly considered a tutor an option.
"But Professor," she said looking for an excuse to get out of this blow against her pride, "I successfully did a nonverbal spell today!"
"Yes, but," he said, "you weren't able to do it again throughout the whole class. I watched you, and you came nowhere close to being able to do it. Sometimes," he explained, "a witch or wizard will be able to cast a spell out of a pure, strong emotion. In those instances, the emotion they are feeling is enough to complete a spell they might normally not be able to do. For example, when a witch may be feeling a strong emotion of anger," he said looking at her, "she will be able to perform a bit of magic that she would not normally be capable of doing."
Ginny just stared back at him quietly. Part of her knew that what Flitwick was saying was right, but the other part of her really didn't care.
"Now I know you and Mr. Malfoy don't exactly get along," he said, getting back to the point. That's for sure Ginny agreed. "But he's the best in the class."
Ginny froze, her mind putting two and two together.
"Wait, you can't mean…" she trailed
"Oh, but I do." Flitwick assured her. "Mr. Malfoy will be your tutor."
Ginny gaped in horror at her teacher. Surely, he must be kidding! Malfoy! My tutor!
"I am not doing this to be cruel to you," Yeah right Ginny thought sarcastically. She glared at her teacher, hating him for doing this to her.
"He is the best," Flitwick assured her once more, "and more importantly, if you can't learn to do this from him, then I will seriously consider dropping you from this class."
If Ginny was angry before, then now she was furious. They sat in a tense silence. Ginny still couldn't believe what he'd told her. Stuck with Malfoy?
"Is this okay, Miss Weasley?" Flitwick finally asked, breaking their tense quietness.
Ginny nodded grimly and held in the urge to scream that had been building up inside her.
"Good," he said, smiling slightly. "I'll talk to Mr. Malfoy, and then I'll leave it up to you two to figure something out. And I expect to see some improvement." He added.
Ginny let out a low sigh, wishing more than anything that she'd never gotten herself into this whole mess.
"I know that you can handle it." He reassured her, yet again.
"So I've been told," she replied icily. Ginny grabbed her bag and stormed out of the classroom, not really caring how incredibly rude she had just been…and to her teacher, no less!
Ginny's weekend passed rather uneventfully. She had just barely finished her homework and had only made a dent in the list of spells she needed to be able to perform for Flitwick. Oddly enough though, she had been able to fall asleep every night. Maybe it was the exhaustion that was overcoming her, or-dare she think it- things were actually getting better. Either way, Ginny was beginning to feel slightly better…but only slightly. When Monday came and went, she reminded herself of her situation with her new tutor, and that darkened her mood indefinitely.
"So," Ginny said Tuesday afternoon as she sat next to Malfoy in their Charms class.
He just sat there, staring straight forward and ignoring her presence all together. Gosh, he's going to make this difficult Ginny realized. "Malfoy," she started but at that moment Flitwick walked in and started to begin their lesson.
"Today, we will be doing illusions again," he informed them, "but now we're moving up from simple, wooden cubes to water." He held up a goblet with water in it. "Creating illusions for liquids is only slightly more complex. For solids, the molecules and particles and such," he said and Ginny wasn't even sure he knew what he was talking about, "are all in fixed positions. They don't move around; they're just stationary. But with liquids, the molecules are moving and bumping against each other. When performing the illusion, you don't need to do anything differently, but the strength of the illusion will be different. It requires only a bit more strength to illusion a liquid." He looked around the classroom and then added, "Alright, so begin!"
There was a bit of shuffling as everyone took their seats and paired up, but then everything calmed down. Draco was still looking determinedly forward. Boy, this kid can hold a grudge Ginny thought while sighing. She slightly went up to get their goblets and filled them with water. She placed his goblet of water in front of him, but he didn't move. Ginny stared down at hers and then smiled. Muttering the illusion incantation, she changed her water into plump, green grapes.
"Look!" she said brightly holding out her newly illusioned grapes, but he didn't so much as blink. Ginny picked up the grape and less than a second later it turned to water and spilled all over her. "Crap!" she cried to herself. Draco, watching her from the corner of his eye, couldn't help but laugh. When Ginny heard him trying to stifle his laughter she looked up smiling. "Do you think that's funny?" she asked him, pretending to be angry.
Ginny quickly took off the illusion and then re-applied it more strongly this time. She reached her hand in the goblet and pulled out a grape.
"There!" she smiled triumphantly. Her brown eyes were sparkling, and it was obvious that she could barely contain her happiness.
"You think that's impressive," Draco said unable to stay mad when Ginny was so perfectly happy. Her smile was that contagious. It could make even the most stubborn of people melt into silly happiness. He took one of her grapes and popped it into his mouth, then grabbed his own wand. "Now, watch the master."
Ginny smiled at him and then Draco muttered the spell and his water turned into a jigglely-red substance.
"What on earth," Ginny said, "is that?"
"Are you kidding?" Draco said trying to sound outraged. "Hello? It's Jell-O! J-E-L-L-O!" he sang in a little tune.
Ginny immediately fell into a fit of giggles, and Draco couldn't help but watch and smile at her. She was so beautiful with her red curls falling over her shoulders and her cheeks turning a slight pink color.
The rest of the class was spent with Draco and Ginny turning their water into delectable treats. Several times though, one of them would "accidentally" put a weak illusion on the water and when the other would reach to try the treat, it would dissolve in their hands and spill all over the place. This only led to laughter and people staring at them incredulously. By the end of the hour, both of them were wet along with their table and chairs.
"So," Ginny began again, finishing the conversation she had started earlier, "what are we going to do about my tutoring?"
She stared at him, but this time he was actually thinking of a response instead of ignoring her completely.
"Well, Weasley," he started, "someone like you will need a lot of help."
Ginny would have yelled at him, but she saw the smile on his face, and the sound of his voice told her that he was only kidding.
"Alright," Ginny said slowly, "so what are we going to do?"
"I'm getting to that," he said calming her down. "You'll need hours and hours of help, if you want to be able to perform nonverbal magic as well as I do." He watched her as she tried to hide the smile that was forming on her lips. "It's very difficult stuff," he added trying to sound important.
"Okay," Ginny agreed dramatically. "I get it. You know what you're doing." Why am I admitting this to Malfoy? "So how are you going to help me?"
"Well," he started and Ginny could've sworn that she saw him hesitate, "we could get together later tonight."
She watched him squirm slightly while he offered that last suggestion. It must be difficult for him she thought. He has to tutor a Weasley! Well, it's hard for me too!
But Ginny knew that the last thought wasn't true. Even though she argued with Malfoy more than she did with her own brothers, she felt different around him. She felt real…alive. She actually spoke, communicated, and was no longer just a walking corpse. It was just a nice change for her, and today, he was completely different.
"Is that a definite no?" he asked pretending to be sad.
Ginny turned her attention back to Draco. When she looked, she couldn't help but smile. He was staring at her, his bottom lip jutted-out in a pout, and his silver-grey eyes were big and round.
"It's a definite yes," she said without taking her eyes off him. "So we'll come back down here after dinner and you can turn me into a master of nonverbal magic!"
With that, Ginny picked up her books and practically skipped out of the classroom. Why is the idea of being tutored by Malfoy growing on me? Ginny wondered. It's because he's the best she reminded herself, as if she needed convincing. If she were going to be tutored by anyone, it would only be the best.
Draco asked himself. He was leaving the Great Hall and was heading on his way to meet Ginny in the charms room. It was only a few hours ago when he had promised the littlest Weasley that he'd meet her back there after dinner. The whole time they were speaking to each other and making the arrangements, Draco was asking himself the same question. What the hell am I doing? First of all, since when did Draco Malfoy help someone else? And second of all, since when did he act normal, even semi-nice, to a Weasley?
He knew the answer. There was something that happened when he looked at her. The doubts he had been thinking totally evaporated when she just smiled at him. She didn't look at him like the worst enemy of her brother, or like the son of a Death Eater. There was just something about how her eyes lit up when she did smile. It couldn't be one of those fake ones he had seen her throw on to hide herself from the rest of the world. But it seemed like when she was with him, she smiled genuinely. She seemed actually happy. Something about that thought made Draco swell with happiness as well.
There was so much more to Ginny, Draco realized. But she never lets anyone else see her Draco realized grumpily. For some reason Ginny had decided to hide the layers upon layers of emotions and personality that she had. For what reason that was, Draco didn't know, but he certainly intended to find out.
"Hey!" a familiar voice called out to him from behind. The voice wrenched his thoughts away from Ginny, but when he turned around, he saw a girl running to catch up with him. The very girl he'd just been thinking about: Ginny. He smiled involuntarily as she halted to a stop, her red curls bouncing everywhere and her breathing hard.
"Breathe," Draco instructed her and she looked up to flash him a quick smile.
"Okay, I'm good." She huffed, still breathing hard. "I saw you leaving the Great Hall, so I decided to follow you," she explained and finally stood upright, her breathing normal. "Man, you walk fast!"
Draco smiled at her, but his mind was screaming at him to stop. What the hell am I doing? That was the question that constantly flickered across his mind when he was with her. When he was just around Ginny, he couldn't help but laugh and joke and smile with her. A Weasley! Screw the fact that she was a Weasley; Draco didn't laugh or joke or smile with anyone!
"Come on then!" he said despite his other thoughts that were telling him to just leave. They followed the corridors a bit and arrived at the charms class a minute later.
Sitting at their normal table Draco turned to Ginny, who was patiently looking at him. Man, she's really close Draco thought as he noticed that their knees were touching.
"Alright," Draco began moving his leg far away from hers. "So you're having major issues with nonverbal magic, right?"
"Yes!" Ginny cried out dramatically. "I try and try, but I still can't do it!"
She leaned back in her chair frustrated at her own inability, and Draco found himself genuinely smiling at her…involuntarily, of course.
"So," Draco said continuing, "what do you do when you're trying to do a nonverbal spell?"
"Well, first I concentrate really hard. I try to clear my mind and try to only think about the object in front of me and the spell that I'm performing."
"Okay," Draco said, sounding very teacher-like, "so far it sounds like you've got it right."
"So then I visualize the spell," she said pantomiming in mid-air. "I try to see the cube or cushion or whatever doing exactly what it's supposed to do. I picture all of this in my head, but when I say it in my mind," she said sadly, dropping her hand, "nothing."
He got up from his chair and paced up and down in front of their table, while Ginny watched.
"I think," Draco began, "that it's less visualizing and more of…hearing it, maybe?" He stopped and turned to her. "Does that make any sense?"
Ginny nodded her head slowly, but then shook it furiously with a smile. "No, not really," she admitted.
"Okay," he said with a sigh and sat down next to her again. "Instead of visualizing the spell happening, hear it. Clear your mind of everything, and then say the incantation mentally. Let your voice, saying the incantation, be the only thing you hear, the only thing you are thinking about." He looked at her, hoping that she understood what he was saying. " Just imagine yourself saying it."
"Alright," she replied hesitantly, whipping out her wand and book. Okay, you can do this Gin. She raised her arm, cleared her mind of everything except the sound of the incantation, and concentrated. Calmly, she said the incantation in her head, trying to hear how she said it aloud.
Nothing.
"I give up!" she said throwing her hands in the air in defeat.
"Now calm down, Weasley," Draco said sitting down behind her. "You need to relax for this to work."
"I am relaxed!" Ginny cried defensively.
"Right," he replied sarcastically. "Now don't freak out," Draco warned, not sure if he should actually do it, "but this will really help you relax. Trust me."
Slowly Draco brought his hands up to her shoulders and for a moment he hesitated...but only for a moment. Then he placed his strong hands on her tiny shoulders where he could feel her tense up immediately.
"What are you doing?" she stammered in surprise.
"Lord, Weasley," he replied, trying to sound off-hand and nonchalant, like he gave girls massages all the time. "Can you relax? It's just a massage. Don't flip out."
But Ginny did flip out. She sat tensely as his warm hands worked their way around her shoulders and then down her back. After a while she loosened up and relaxed, not being able to think about anything except for the fact that Draco Malfoy was moving his hands around her body. They sat in silence for a good amount of time. Ginny was shaking slightly at the delicate and comforting touch that Malfoy was providing, and Draco was moving his hands up and down her back enjoying every bit of it, even while his head told him to stop.
"Now," he whispered, mouth right by her ear. "Try it now."
Ginny picked up her wand, almost like she was in a trance. Her body was still slightly trembling from Draco's touch, and she couldn't quite clear her mind. When she closed her eyes to concentrate, all she saw were his hands moving up and down her back, slowly and purposefully. Stop it! Ginny ordered herself. Before her thoughts strayed even farther she imagined the sound of the incantation. She heard her own voice in her head saying it and then flicked her wand.
When she opened her eyes, her book was floating over the table. It was hovering only inches, and it was shaking as if it were about to fall.
"I did it!" Ginny squealed losing control as her book flopped back on the table. She jumped up and did a little dance around the table.
"But you lost control," Draco pointed out, but he was just smiling at her, his eyes wandering over her body. "You let it fall."
"Oh stop being such a party pooper!" Ginny warned. She continued to make her way around the table. Draco stood up and as she was rounding the corner with her head still bent over, she ran right into him.
"Oh!" she squeaked losing her balance. Quickly, Draco reached out his arm and caught her before she went tumbling to the floor. The end result was Ginny pressed tightly to his chest with his arms wrapped around her. "Oh," she said again, flushed this time.
Draco looked down at her, noticing how her cheeks blushed pink and her eyes got round in surprise. Her nose was shaped in a ski-slope and was sprayed with a light path of freckles.
"I have to go," she stammered finally breaking loose from his grip. "Thanks a lot!" she shouted over her shoulder as she ran out the door and down the corridor.
A/N: Please read and reveiw!
Thanks to: missMANNEQUINx, FairyTale725, Helldarkangel1, and ImBlond.JamesBlond.! Thanks so much for your comments! They make me happy...and write faster too! Keep reading!