A/N: Thanks to reviewers! Sadly, still no Tom in this chapter. But it's important. And ENTER THE BAT BOGEY HEX! Bwahahaha. Ginny gets REALLY pissed off. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Not mine. Though I wish it was.
The Letter P
Chapter Twenty-Three: P is for Prohibited
"Okay. This year's Slytherin Quidditch team. Keeper – Celem Magnus. Beaters – Jack Swithin and William Nomens. Seeker – Palmer Vegrandis. Chasers – Abraxas Malfoy, Rupert Flax, and…" he grumbled audibly, before reluctantly muttering, "Ginevra Peregrine."
Ginny moved away, and was swept into a bear-hug by Alden, Grace, and – Ginny was pleasantly surprised – Flora. "You got in, you got in, you got in," they chanted.
Ginny grinned.
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Happy with her new place on the team, Ginny vowed to stop wasting money on chocolate (a little part of her somewhere died) so that she could buy a really good broomstick the next time that she went to Diagon Alley.
"I'm so happy that I got on the team," burbled Ginny. "I'll be able to play, and kick Gryffindor's arse!"
"Too right, you will!" cheered Grace.
"Er. Ginny?"
I know that voice.
The redhead froze, her lip curling in disgust. With a swoosh of hair, she turned her back sharply on the male behind her, and started to walk away with Grace, who fired a filthy look over her shoulder.
"Ginny, please, can we just have a sociable conversation?" asked Scott, grabbing her arm.
"No," Ginny spat, wrenching her arm away. She hoped, deep down inside, that he would chase after her and apologize.
"I just… I just wanted to congratulate you on making the Slytherin team," said Scott feebly, smiling. "I'm Ravenclaw keeper, so I guess I'll see you at the matches?"
Rage flashing in her hazel eyes, Ginny said furiously, "And there I was, thinking that you were about to apologize!"
Scott frowned. "For what?"
Good Merlin, good God, good Dumbledore – you arsehole
SMACK.
Scott yelped, and stumbled backwards; an angry red hand-mark standing out brightly upon his browned cheek. "Oww," he hissed through his teeth. "Bloody hell, you're insane! What was that for?"
"You arsehole, you stupid bloody idiot – you moron-" spluttered Ginny, livid. Words failing her, she whacked him around the face again, harder this time. "Consider yourself so freakin' lucky that I was in a good mood before you came, you ARSEHOLE!"
"What – I – cat-"
"IF YOU EVER SPEAK TO ME AGAIN, THEN THE REEVE FAMILY LINE WILL COME TO AN ABRUPT END!" she yelled at him. "BECAUSE, SCOTT, YOU WILL LOSE THE ABILITY TO HAVE CHILDREN!"
Breathing hard through her mouth, her hair mussed and her hazel eyes wide with fire, she drew her wand back, and before the Italian Ravenclaw could even flinch, she screamed, "VERMUS NEZ!" at him.
Emerald green light erupted from the tip of her wand, casting an eerie glow across her face, and then huge green things started climbing from Scott's nose, scrambling all over his face, pulling at his skin and pinching his eyes closed and scratching him raw.
Silence.
"Dude. Remind me never to get on your bad side," said Grace in awe, placing a hand on Ginny's shoulder.
"Unless you're an Italian Ravenclaw blödian," she swore in the Dark language, having picked up rather a lot during the War, "I don't think it'll be a problem."
She stalked over to her ex-boyfriend, now on the floor, writhing in pain as his own bogeys attacked him. Ginny bent, grabbed a fistful of his robes, and hauled him to his feet. "Never come near me again," she hissed, her face millimetres from his. Then, with a sweet smile, she said, "think of the grandchildren."
Anger still fizzing through her veins, Ginny dropped him onto the floor, neatly side-stepped his sprawled-out body, and walked into the hall.
It was only halfway through dinner that she remembered the books.
She gasped, and in her sudden recollection of the books, hidden under her bed, she dropped her fork into her lap, spaghetti and all.
"Damnit," she muttered, and, trying not to burn her fingers, swept the hot pasta from her skirt. "Damnit."
"You okay?" asked Grace, trying – and failing – to bite back laughter.
"What happened?" inquired Alden, frowning.
"Er, nothing," said Ginny. "I just remembered. Hey, will you if Dippet says anything after dinner, about Prefect meetings or something? And save me some pudding; I have to go."
"Where?" said Grace incredulously, a look of horror in her blue eyes. "What the hell could be so important that it's worth skipping pudding for?!"
"Sorry." Ginny puffed out her breath. "See you later, alright?" she shoved a last piece of garlic bread into her mouth, grabbed her schoolbag, and, with brief hugs to both of her closest Slytherin friends, the redhead left the Great Hall.
Anticipation choked her chest as she descended the stairs to the dungeons, and, unable to stand it, she ran faster and faster.
She burst through the doors, dumped her bag, dropped to her knees, and skidded along the stone floor, grazing her knees. Ducking her head down, she fished the books from underneath her bed and rested them on her lap.
Here they are. Finally, my chance to read them.
Wait.
The second book, Unlocking the Chamber of Secrets: Theory and Fact, was blue…
This one is black.
Disappointment sank into Ginny's heart. She had taken the wrong book. Unlocking the Chamber of Secrets: Theory and Fact may have contained extremely useful information. Now… she would never know.
Giving a small scream of frustration and anger, Ginny picked up the book and hurled it across the room. "Damnit!" she yelled. A glare settling on her stormy features, she opened the first book, which had previously proved useless.
Her eyes skimmed over the text, taking the words in at a rapid-fire pace.
The basilisk was discovered by Lord Aldric of Haldemnate, in the year 1205. It is hatched under a chicken egg, beneath a toad – due the chicken being its natural parent (though it is descended from snakes), the crowing of a rooster is fatal to it. This was discovered when Donald the Daring confronted a basilisk face-to-face in Scotland. A massive fight ensued, in which he was blinded by the snake spitting venom at his face. In a blind panic, he threw anything nearby at it – including a young rooster. The bird squawked in indignation at being thrown, and the basilisk dropped dead.
"Useless."
She skipped several pages.
Common sense says that the Chamber of Secrets is in the dungeons, as it was where Salazar Slytherin resided, and he would have preferred to be close to it. However, every inch of the Hogwarts dungeons have been scoured, and nothing has been found. Theorists and aurors can only assume that it is hidden behind a magical locked door that can only be opened by either a Parselmouth, an heir of Slytherin himself, or by a password, which must have surely died out many years ago.
"The password's not difficult," Ginny muttered, flicking through the book. "Just try open."
She flipped to another part of the book, and continued reading. Half an hour later, she slammed it shut.
"Useless," she spat.
"What's useless?" asked Grace as she entered the room. "Whoa, Ginny, what did you do to your knees?"
The redhead looked down at her grazed knees. "Nothing," she lied. "I must have fell." She stood up, quickly slipping The Chamber of Secrets: the Secrets of the Chamber into her trunk and closing it.
Grace obviously didn't believe her, but didn't push it. Her blue eyes darted down to the corner of the room. "Hey, Ginny, is this yours?" she asked, picking up the black book before the redhead could stop her.
"Er. I don't know. Maybe."
"What is it?" asked Grace interestedly, turning it over. Then her eyes widened. "Ginny – this is from the Restricted Section!" she gasped.
"What?" Ginny frowned. "How d'you know? I don't think it is," she lied, joining her friend.
"Ginny, are you mad? Of course this is from Restricted Section! Hell, this sort of book is," Grace hissed, glancing around to see if anyone was listening, "illegal, Ginny!"
What?
"This is a book on Svengali, for the sake of Merlin!" Grace exclaimed, shaking it in the air. "These have been prohibited for years. Why is it even in school?" she wondered to herself.
Ginny cleared her throat. "Excuse me, Grace…" she said. "But is the word… 'svenjelley' – supposed to mean anything to me?"
"Er – yeah!" said Grace, with a duh tone to her voice. "It's a severe act of Dark Wizarding evil!"
Dark Wizarding evil?
This book could be more useful than I first thought…
"It's from somewhere foreign. Ending in –ia. Something. Romania. Slovakia. Bulgaria. Albania. I forget," Grace said absently, waving her hand. She dropped the book onto Ginny's bed, and started to burrow through her trunk for her pyjamas.
Albania!
Salazar Slytherin was born in Albania! Voldemort lived much of his life in Albania! The first Parselmouth was discovered in Albania! HELL!
"So what is it?" Ginny pushed further, feeling her pulse speed up with anticipation.
"It's an act of possessing and controlling another human being for evil purposes, usually ending in the victim's death."
It's an act of what?
'Possessing and controlling another human being for evil purposes, usually ending in the victim's death'.
Let's think back five years.
When I was eleven.
Shit
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A/N: Hahah. Oh dear. By the way, don't give me any credit for the Svengali thing. I don't own it. Thanks to my beta SilvanXan. REVIEW! You know you want to….
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XxRandomHeartxX: Yeah, I love Quidditch. I'd love to play it but I'd probably be really bad. Not only can I not hit things, throw things, catch things, save things, or dodge things, but I also have an immense fear of heights. I ROCK! Hah! YOU GOT TURNED INTO THE SQUID! HAHAH! That is going on my top ten funniest dreams list. I once had a dream where I was a lion in the Lion King, and I had to save this stupid meerkat that kept jumping off a cliff… ANYway. I'm rambling. Thank you!
Spats: Thanks!
KayRose: Well, if you were knocked out, dragged down into a chamber that isn't supposed to exist and slashed at, you'd feel woozy enough not to recognize her either. Thanks! I loved that part too.
creative-writing-girl13: Thank you!
BDSanta2001: Her own grandmother? That'd just be creepy. Nah, I have different plans in store for her. –winkwink- Haha. That polecat line made me laugh. Thanks!
o00bubbles00o: Wow. You spelt amoebas right. I can never spell it right. Well, apart from just then. But that's because I copied it from your review. HAHA BOW DOWN TO MEH AMOEBAS! Bwahahaha.
storm-brain: Yeah. I hate it when she's perfect. That's why I made her how I did – obsession with chocolate and eyeliner (like me), not perfect at sports, really untidy, really vicious (sometimes. Like me :P)… and a total geek when it comes to hot guys.
Intricacy: Oh. Is it? Huh. I always thought that blond was like an American spelling, and blonde was a British spelling. –shrug- Oh well. Thanks for saying, though.
Leah: COOKIES! Mahaha. Yeah, and he was really bad at Duck Duck Goose, too.
Shadow Spirit Song: Thank you! My friend won. I suck at Duck Duck Goose. And actually, the strangling with the muffin line idea isn't mine. Someone else wrote a fic on here with a line of strangling with a bagel. Disclaimer: remuslives, Chocolate Covered Love.
Eternal Passion: -squee- Thank you!
chimis: Thanks!
xxx
I LOVE YOU ALL!