Love Potion Number Nine
Chapter Three: Ginny's Thoughts
Disclaimer: All characters from the Harry Potter Series are owned by J.K. Rowling, all other characters belong to me. All quotes from Romeo and Juliet belong to Shakespeare and any insinuations about Shakespeare are purely speculation and not meant to be taken seriously.
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January 30
Dear Diary,
Okay, it's official. You are my witness. I have sworn off boys. And brothers. And ESPECIALLY love potions!!!
FOR GOOD!
So far, Daphne, Hermione, and I have concocted seven different love potions. None of them worked. All of them had some pretty... I suppose you could say "strange," although that's an understatement... side effects. Let me give you the rundown:
Love Potion Number One: Draco fell in love with my socks. Luckily, Hermione found a counter spell and managed to wipe his memory of that incident, as well of the memories of most of the students that were there.
Love Potion Number Two: As soon as Draco saw me (he sneered in my direction after finishing a snogging session with another ugly sixth year), you could see hearts in his eyes. Literally. Little pink, beating hearts, right there in his eye sockets. He started screaming and yelling and running about like a dying chicken or something. Someone took him up to the hospital wing, and Madam Pomfrey fixed him in a matter of minutes, but he's still grumbling about lawsuits or something.
So then Madam Pomfrey became suspicious, and she called this big meeting to tell all the students about the dangers of love potions. I didn't want to try any more potions, but Hermione and Daphne insisted. So, on to...
Love Potion Number Three: The book said to use the potion as ink and write a love letter to the person you wanted to fall in love with you, but you didn't have to give the letter to the person or anything. So I wrote Draco a letter and sealed it with a kiss and kept it under my pillow. The next day, the Slytherins had Double Potions with the Gryffindors. Harry and Ron, along with all the other seventh year Gryffindors besides Hermione, came to lunch almost collapsing on each other, laughing fit to keel over.
It turns out, while they were taking notes during Potions, Draco fell in love with his quill. He actually got down on one knee and proposed to it. Needless to say, I was mortified. Again, I insisted that we stop meddling in love potions before we got caught. Again, my motion was denied.
Love Potion Number Four: Draco seemed to be in love with EVERYONE. He started handing out long-stemmed roses to everyone he saw. Including Harry.
And (swoon!) me, but that's beside the point.
Some big, ugly Slytherin guy gave him a good bop on the head and he snapped out of it, but no one's let up about it yet.
Love Potion Number Five: This potion was developed by William Shakespeare and totally screwed up by Hermione, Daphne, and Ginny. He wrote a lot of plays for Muggles, but he was famous in the wizarding world for his love potions.
Anyway, after I tricked Draco into drinking it (we pretended it was part of a care package from his mother, which he receives daily anyway), he started quoting Romeo and Juliet to any girl he laid eyes on. The funny part was, he was saying all of Juliet's lines from the balcony scene, supposedly Shakespeare's most romantic (and sappiest) writing ever.
He actually came right up to me, got down on one knee, took my hand, looked me STRAIGHT in the eye, and said, "Thou knowest the mask of night is on my face; else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheeks." I have no idea what that means, but it still made me swoon. Then he turned to Hermione and said, "Oh Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?"
Anyway, the effects of that potion only lasted four hours. Moving along...
Love Potion Number Six: When he saw me, his heart started beating wildly. Literally. We could see his heart beating in his chest. It would stretch out about a foot in front of him every time. He thought he was having a heart attack.
This time, Madam Pomfrey and Dumbledore had a meeting with all the students about Love Potions. They said if the people doing this were caught, they would be expelled indefinitely and might have to face the Ministry of Magic. I thought for sure this would deter Hermione, but when the next time I saw her, she pulled Daphne and I into the bathroom to show us another potion she had already concocted. I just don't know what's gotten into her lately! I think hanging around Harry and Ron so much has addled Hermione's brain.
Love Potion Number Seven: This was the worst of all. It took us a few days to complete this potion, and the end result was a light, powdery, glittery substance that we were supposed to sprinkle on Draco, and then on me. But when Hermione was sprinkling Draco, a little bit got on Crabbe.
Draco Malfoy fell in love with Vincente Crabbe.
ICK!!!!!!!!!
Fortunately, for everyone's sake, there was a counter potion. They were only in love for about a day, and there was no snogging involved. Seems Crabbe is a girl with morals.
But that's not the end of it.
See, Ron noticed that I had been acting quite down-in-the-dumps lately, since all that Draco's suffered is entirely my fault. But Ron didn't know that. He talked to Hermione, and apparently she hinted that I was feeling down because I didn't have a boyfriend but most of my friends did.
So Ron had Neville ask me out.
NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM ASKED ME OUT!!!!!!!!!
I don't want to be mean, but...... it's NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM!!!!!!! Argh!!!!! Yes, he's very nice, but he's just so...... Neville!!!! I only went to the Yule Ball with him in my third year so that I could go, seeing as the younger students weren't allowed. We had a pretty good time, but he was so nervous and shy. I carried the entire conversation (what little there was), and the one time we attempted to dance... well, let's just say my toes still haven't forgiven me.
I very politely explained to Neville that I look at him as more of an older brother than a romantic interest. I think he was relieved, actually. Neville said he thought of me as a sister, too, so I asked him why he asked me out in the first place. Turns out, Ron threatened him with the Full-Body Bind.
So I hunted Ron down and lit into him. I caused quite a scene in the common room, and now people are calling me Howler. How lovely. So of course I blamed Ron for that, as well, and now I'm not on speaking terms with him.
Or Hermione either, as this was all her fault. I've begrudgingly agreed to talk to Daphne, but only when I must.
I really must look into finding some new friends. I've heard Durmstrang is a delightful school, maybe I'll convince Mum and Dad to transfer me there.
-Ginny
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A/N: Thank you to all of my reviewers!