Chapter 12- the Anti-Love Potion

A/N: Well, not a lot of people guessed, but Starbrite guessed right in thinking that it's an anti-love potion! J Thanx to all my wonderful reviewers who rated me a 9, I promise that I will make my story the best it can be!! Just a reminder, it's about April in the story, and so it's almost the end of the year! There's about four or five more chapters after this, and Pansy makes another appearance. L I'm thinking about writing a sequel, about Draco's dad taking over for Voldemort or something and Draco runs away with Ginny in fear of him. If anyone has any ideas, email me or tell me in your reviews and I'll see if I can put it in! R/R, enjoy!

Ron carefully tipped the last of the potion into Ginny's goblet of pumpkin juice. "There. It's all in. Now we just have to wait for her to drink it." He looked at Hermione. "The effect is instant, right?"

She nodded. "She'll forget she ever liked Malfoy as soon as she drinks it."

Harry glanced at the doorway. "Here she comes." He announced.

Ron waved. "Oi, Ginny! Over here!" he patted the seat next to him on the bench and Ginny sat down uncertainly, sure that another Draco lecture was coming up, but hoping, that, since it was their first day back, skip the lecture.

Ron grinned. "Have a good morning, Gin?"

She nodded. "I didn't get any homework."

"Lucky you," said Harry. "Hagrid had us running after all the pixies he caught." He shook his head and grinned. "Boy, that made me thirsty!" He reached for his cup of pumpkin juice.

Ginny suddenly found that she was pretty thirsty too, and took a long drink from her goblet before piling the food on her plate. Something felt strange though, and she was sure it wasn't the pork chops.

"Does this food taste weird to you?" she asked.

Ron exchanged a glance with Hermione and Harry, and Hermione put her hand on top of Ron's, gripping it hard, willing him not to give it away.

"No," he said.

Ginny swallowed, and leaned back. Suddenly, she caught sight of Hermione's hand clasping onto Ron's. She bolted forward.

"Ron!"

"What?"

"You…you and Hermione--you're…" Ginny exclaimed.

Ron turned red. "Yeah, well…"

"When did this happen?" Ginny demanded. "How come I didn't know you two were an item?"

"An item?" Ron echoed.

Ginny sighed wistfully. "I wish I had a boyfriend."

Ron and Hermione looked at each other, each with the same thought running through their head: Ginny forgot Malfoy!

***

"Hey, Gin," said Draco lazily, not taking his eyes off his magazine, as Ginny strode by.

She turned around and gave him a weird look. "You talking to me?"

"Yeah, I'm talking to you. You think I'd call MacMillian 'Gin'?" he nodded over at Ernie MacMillian, who was absorbed in a book at the next table.

"Well, I didn't think you'd call me 'Gin'," she snapped at him.

His eyes darkened, searching her. "I'll call you what I want."

"No you won't, you two-faced slug!" Ginny's temper rose.

Draco got up, and stared hard at her. She felt his eyes look deep into hers, and she had a vague feeling that it was very familiar. They stood like that for a long time, until Draco spoke. "Something's wrong."

"No there isn't, Malfoy." said Ginny. "You're just annoying me, like always."

Draco showed a sign of surprise, but he recovered quickly. Walking over to her, he gripped her upper arms. She tried to yank away, but his grip was strong. "Look at me," he snapped. Unwillingly, she did, trying to make her eyes as hateful as possible. His hostile eyes bore into hers, and she pulled away again. He let go.

"They did something," he said quietly.

"Someone did something to me?" said Ginny with rancor. "I don't think so."

Draco pulled her into a dark corner of the library. "Don't you remember anything?"

"What?"

He let go of her. She started to edge away, looking at him with a confused look, and with hatred. "I don't ever want to hear you call me 'Gin' again, hear?"

"Better buy some earplugs," he said, and sauntered away, muttering "Damn Weasley," under his breath.

***

"What did you do to her?"

Ron was surprised to see Malfoy come in through the portrait hole, and head straight for him and Hermione, who were doing their homework.

"How'd you get in?" he demanded. Luckily, most of the other Gryffindors were already in bed, and there wasn't anyone else in the common room except the three of them.

"The password was Polyjuice Potion a few months ago. It still is." Draco sneered. "Boy, you Gryffindors don't care much about intruders. Brave enough to drive them off, are you?"

Ron narrowed his eyes as Hermione gripped his hand. "What do you want?"

Draco leaned against the wall, looking comfortable. "You know what I want, Weasley. You know what you did."

"I don't understand." said Ron through gritted teeth.

"I didn't know Weasleys lacked brains as well as money." Draco said, fixing him with an intense stare.

"Shut up, Malfoy,"

"Make me," he said with the air of a five year old.

Ron pulled out his wand. "I'll…"

"Gonna fight me, are you?" said Draco mockingly pulling out his wand. "Go on, hit me. You really do lack brains if you think you can beat me up."

Ron was trembling with rage.

"Oh, that's right. I probably shouldn't mess up your face. Then your girlfriend wouldn't be able to kiss you. Although I wonder why she would in the first place."

"Beat it, Malfoy,"

"I'll figure it out sooner or later what you did to her," he said. "She'll hate you."

"Malfoy, leave him alone," Hermione said defiantly.

"Shut up, Granger. It wasn't your idea, it was his idea to do something to her."

"It's for her own good." said Ron.

"Yes, and did you really think it'd last? I'm not stupid, Weasley, unlike most of your friends. You can't trick me. How come you didn't make me hate her? It'd be so much easier, wouldn't it?"

Ron didn't say anything.

"You knew it wouldn't work. And would this work? No."

"Malfoy, be quiet. It was my idea too; I agree it would be better for her," said Hermione.

He smirked. "Sticking up for your brainless git for a boyfriend, Granger? I happen to know you were dating Krum before he dumped you and ran to Weasley." Hermione fell silent.

"That doesn't matter," said Ron. "We love each other, unlike you and Ginny. She loved you, and you just led her on. And you started it in the first place. What were you trying to do, huh, Malfoy?"

His whole face darkened. "You still don't get it, do you? But Granger does, why don't you ask her? By the time you understand, Ginny'll be back to normal, no thanks to you."

"Don't you go messing with her, Malfoy!" Ron shouted at him, as Draco turned to leave. "She's fine the way she is."

"Yes, Wealsey, and wouldn't we all want the world to be filled with perfect little people." Draco narrowed his eyes at him, making Ron uncomfortable. "You can't change nature, Weasley, and you'll never change Ginny."

***

Ginny had just finished a good class of Medical Magic and was heading to the common room to get started on her homework before dinner when a figure blocked her path.

"Malfoy," she spat, keeping her distance. "What do you want?"

"I want to know," he said, not moving towards her, "if you've ever been kissed."

Ginny flushed a deep red. What was she supposed to say? "No," she answered truthfully.

Draco smirked. "That's where you're wrong, Weasley."

She felt a stab of pain when he called her 'Weasley'. Surely, she should be glad he didn't call her 'Gin' again, but why did it hurt her when he said 'Weasley'?

Malfoy seemed to know what she was thinking, and widened his smirk. "Would you believe me if I told you I've kissed you?"

"No," she said on instinct, disgusted at the thought, not realizing he was moving closer to her until he was right in front of her, and gripped her arms.

"Well, I have," he said, and before Ginny could stop him, he lowered his mouth to hers.

It felt vaguely familiar, the sudden heat she felt, especially where Malfoy's hands closed around arms, the feel of his mouth on hers, pressing hard. She wondered if she had dreamed it before, many times maybe, but lost her chain of thought as she tried desperately to pull away from him. Her mind was screaming Get away! Get away! But her body wasn't responding, and Ginny found she was pressing against him. A small part of her brain was enjoying the whole thing; it seemed to be stronger than the rest of her brain, for her body was taking orders from it. It was reminding her that she thought it was familiar, that she probably dreamed of it, and this was probably another dream. Her fingers grabbed Malfoy's shirt, not wanting to let go.

Suddenly the larger portion of her brain took over, and she laid her hands on his chest and flatly pushed him away.

"My first kiss," she said in horror, "was to an asshole!"

Malfoy was giving her a strange smile. "Oh, this isn't the first one. You've had many other kisses with 'the asshole'".

Ginny stood glaring at Malfoy. She poked her finger at his chest hard. "You either explain or get lost."

"Your stupid brother did something," said Malfoy, thoroughly enjoying this. "He did something to you. I suspect it's an Anti-Love spell or something, but I'm not sure."

"Anti-Love spell?" Ginny gave a heartless laugh. "You mean I was actually in love with you? Get a life, Malfoy." She turned to leave.

"Food for thought, Weasley," Malfoy called after her. "What did you do during Spring Break?"

"I stayed at school, of course," she said, not looking back.

"Are you sure you didn't go home?"

Ginny whipped around to demand what it meant, but he was already gone.

***

It was when Ginny was about to go to bed when a flash of gold caught her eye. Looking around, she realized it was the golden heart necklace she wore. She stitched up her eyebrows, wondering where it came from. She was sure she'd been wearing it for a long time now, but who gave it to her? Ginny also thought that it was more than an ordinary necklace, but what?

Unclasping it, she stuffed it in a drawer and went to bed.

A/N: Pretty depressing chapter, isn't it? Next chapter is all uphill from here. Draco finds out, Ginny's back to normal, and somebody gets a good yelling. But don't expect it to be all uphill until the end. Pansy is making another appearance in Ch. 14, so watch out!