Love Potion Number Nine

Chapter 6: Love Potions Eight and Nine

A/N: Many, many thanks to Kaneko for the ferret idea!!! You rock!!!

Disclaimer: You know the deal. Rowling owns all the Harry Potter stuff, I own the other stuff. Got it? Good. Moving on.

Warning: Extreme fluffiness ahead.

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After dinner, Hermione and Daphne carefully eluded Ginny and made it into Myrtle's bathroom without mishap. They finished Love Potion Attempt Number Eight fairly quickly, but right at the end, Hermione realized she had left the bottle in her room. She rushed off to get it (apparently forgetting that she was a highly intelligent witch who could have easily summoned it), leaving Daphne alone with the potion.

Daphne took a plastic bag out of her pocket. In the bag was some white powder, which she carefully poured into the potion and stirred it in.

No, it wasn't drugs, so don't freak out. What Daphne added to the potion was simple, everyday table salt, a known catalyst for disaster in magical potions. A tablespoon of salt in an ocean of potion would make the potion as harmless as tap water. Daphne, for once, was glad she had been paying attention in Potions.

But what Daphne had neglected to remember was this: salt has a different effect on love potions. Instead of making them undisruptive, they simply change the effects of the potion.

So when Hermione had Dobby agree to slip some into Draco's pumpkin juice at dinner, Daphne (and Draco) thought he was perfectly safe. Hermione expected Draco to fall in love with Ginny on sight. Ginny, of course, expected nothing.

Nothing happened at dinner. Draco neither felt nor noticed anything. It wasn't until the next day, when the seventh year Slytherins had Transfiguration with the Gryffindors, that he (and the rest of the class) noticed anything.

Professor McGonagall told the class they would be learning how to transfigure ferrets into rolling pins. Of course, the Gryffindors snickered at this, remembering the time Mad-Eye Moody (or rather, Barty Crouch, Jr.) turned Malfoy into a ferret and bounced him around.

Draco ignored the laughing and started to discuss Quidditch tactics with one of the Beaters on the Slytherin team. McGonagall passed out the live, wriggling ferrets.

She set a black one down on Draco's desk. He glanced away from the Beater for a mere second, then did a double take. To Draco, the ferret was absolutely gorgeous. Slowly, tenderly, he lifted the ferret and kissed it gently.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Draco was in love with his ferret.

Oh, the bitter irony.

"Mr. Malfoy, please unhand that ferret!" Professor McGonagall cried. The entire class was cracking up.

"Oh, ferret, beautiful ferret, please just tell me your name. Forgive me for my forwardness, but please mother my children!" Draco was murmuring to the ferret.

"Draco, what the bloody hell are you doing?" Another Slytherin asked, whacking Draco in the head.

"Can't you see that I'm busy? Geez, can't a guy get a little privacy in here?!" Draco demanded, clutching the ferret to his chest.

"Mr. Malfoy, that is enough! Give the ferret to me!" Professor McGonagall demanded.

"You'll never separate us! We were meant to be!" Draco cried dramatically.

"Accio ferret!" McGonagall shouted. The ferret zoomed out of Draco's grip and into hers.

Draco's lip trembled. His eyes filled with tears. "How… how could you?! I love her!"

"It's a him," McGonagall corrected him.

Draco ran from the room, sobbing uncontrollably.

There was silence in the room for a few seconds. Every eye in the room was watching the doorway where Draco has disappeared through. Then, there erupted such an explosion of laughter that was unprecedented in Hogwarts history.

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When Ginny heard the news about Draco and his ferrety love, she was livid. She sat quietly at the Gryffindor table, seething with anger, waiting until Hermione and Daphne stood to leave. They tried to rush out of the Great Hall as quickly as possible, but Ginny was faster.

"Come with me," she hissed, leading them down the corridor to an empty broom closet. She made the closet soundproof, then erupted, "How could you?! You promised me there would be no more love potions! But no, you just couldn't stop meddling in my love life, could you? Do you enjoy seeing me this angry? Do you like seeing Draco suffer? Well, yes, I'm sure you do, since he hates you and you hate him, but don't you even care about how much it hurts me?"

"Ginny, of course we care! We're so sorry, we never thought this one would go askew…" Hermione began to apologize.

"Oh, this is all my fault! I tried to ruin the potion, but I guess it didn't work!" Daphne sobbed.

"What? Why?" Ginny asked, taken aback.

"How? When?" Hermione demanded.

"I put salt in it. During Potions today, Snape told us that salt doesn't react to love potions the same way it does with other potions, but I didn't know that when I put the salt in! Oh, Ginny, I'm so sorry. We never meant to hurt Draco or you!" Daphne said, sniffling.

"Why would you try to ruin the potion? It would have worked perfectly if you hadn't meddled in it!" Hermione said angrily.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Daphne ran from the closet in tears.

Ginny glared at Hermione for a second before leaving in a huff. Hermione sighed and followed them both.

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Dear Diary,

Hermione and Daphne are the worst friends in the world! I can't believe they did this to Draco! They promised me that they wouldn't try any more love potions. And what do they do as soon as my back is turned? Conjure up another stupid potion!

This time, Draco fell in love with the ferret he was supposed to be transfiguring in McGonagall's class today. The Gryffindors were there, too, so I bet he'll be made fun of for the rest of his life. AND IT'S ALL MY FAULT!!!!!!!! If I hadn't agreed to go along with the first potion, we never would have gotten to the eighth.

Hermione and Daphne should pay for this. But how?

Ginny set down her pen for a few minutes, deep in thought. Suddenly, a thought struck her, and, grinning, she scribbled down her plan into her diary.

I've got it!!!!!!!!! I'll create my own love potion (I've certainly learned from the mistakes we made in the past) and make Hermione and Daphne fall in love with Crabbe and Goyle! It's brilliant! But poor Harry and Rex, they'll be so disappointed. . . oh, screw them, who cares?

Adieu,

-Ginny

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Draco paced around his room, trying to decide what the best way to confess his love to Ginny would be. Should he send her a letter? No, too cowardly. He had to tell her to her face, otherwise she may not believe him. But when, and where? At mealtime? No, no, absolutely not, way too many people around. Too bad she wasn't a seventh year. They had no classes together. . .

After about an hour locked away in his room, Draco finally decided to just wait outside the Gryffindor common room (hidden beneath his recently purchased Invisibility Cloak, of course) until she came out, then pour out his feelings.

So Draco did just that. He seated himself on the ground, leaning against the wall, and kept himself entertained by thinking of possible scenarios that would arise once he laid his heart out there.

Unbeknownst to him, Ginny wasn't in the Gryffindor dorms. She was in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, conjuring a love potion for Hermione and Daphne.

After five hours, Draco finally decided to give up. He rose stiffly and started walking down the corridor. About halfway along, he suddenly bumped into something.

The "something" emitted a small sound that was strangely familiar. Draco found and reached out with both arms, feeling about for whatever he had bumped into. Finally he felt something and grabbed hold tight.

"Who's there? What are you doing?" he whispered.

"Malfoy?!" the "something" burst out, surprised.

"Yes, who are you?" Draco asked, pulling he/she/it closer.

"Draco, let go of me. It's Ginny Weasely. What the bloody hell are you doing here?" Ginny asked, pulling the Cloak she had "borrowed" from Harry away from her head. Draco did the same and they looked at each other incredulously.

"I, uh… well, actually, I was looking for you. I've been waiting for you to come out of your common room for a few hours," Draco explained.

"What do you want me for?" Ginny asked, her stomach beginning to churn with both nerves and excitement. Perhaps he found out that she was behind all the love potions, but he didn't look angry at all. In fact, the arrogant smirk he normally wore around any Gryffindor was suspiciously absent. He looked a little nervous and a little hopeful.

"Come with me," he said, funding her invisible hand. They both covered themselves with the Cloaks and Draco led Ginny to an empty classroom. He shut the door behind them and took off his Cloak completely, as did she. Draco had her sit on one of the desks and kneeled before her.

Clearing his throat nervously, he said, "Ginny, I know I've treated you and your family like crap for the last few years, and for that I am truly, truly sorry. I know 'sorry' is very inadequate, but I don't know how else to make it up to you. Please let me explain."

Ginny nodded, intrigued. Draco looked straight into her eyes, and she felt a shiver run up her spine.

"After the Dark Lord regained power, I began to see how truly evil my parents are, especially my father. I lost all interest in being a Malfoy. I apologized to Daphne and we've become good friends. But I couldn't completely renounce my Malfoy name. My father would kill me, and I prefer living over dying. I had to keep up appearances, you know. That's why I continued being so horrible to Pot… Harry, I mean, and Hermione, and you, and your family.

"I know it was a really rotten choice, but my pride wouldn't let me do a complete 180 from being a Malfoy to being nice to, excuse me, Mudbloods. Also, I wanted to remain a Malfoy at least until my parents died and left me their money. That way, I could provide for Daphne and try to make up for the damage my father has done by donating to charities. But recently, Daphne and I had a talk. I told her that I was in love with. . . someone. . . but I couldn't tell her because Father would disown me. She convinced me to stand up for myself and take a chance, for once.

"So, what I'm trying to say is. . . I love you, Ginny Weasely."

Ginny was in shock. There was such sincerity in his voice, such genuineness in his eyes, that she knew he was telling the absolute truth. By the warmth and love she felt from him, she knew he wasn't under the influence of some love potion.

"Draco, I. . . I don't know what to say. . ." she whispered, blinking back tears of joy. Without thinking, she ran a hand through his platinum blonde locks, something she'd longed to do for ages.

"Then don't say anything. Just let me kiss you," he whispered. She nodded, and before she could register a conscious thought, his lips were on hers. His kiss was gentle and loving, his touch on her shoulders and back was soft and tender.

When it was over, Ginny kept her eyes closed for a second or two more, savoring the taste of Draco. When she opened her eyes, she found herself looking straight into Draco's stormy gray eyes. Softly, he wiped away the single tear running down her cheek.

"I love you, too," she said. He grinned and kissed her again, this time more passionately.

"I don't care if my father disembowels me, I can die happy now that I've kissed you," he said, sitting next to her on the desk. She leaned her head on his chest, sighing happily.

"If I were you, I'd start practicing some good hexes, because once your father is done with you, you'll have my brothers to deal with," she advised. He chuckled, and she felt the reverberations in his chest.

"My father I can deal with. Your brothers, one at a time, no problem. But all at once? Then we'd have a problem," he admitted.

"Don't worry, I think I can manage to hold them off of you long enough to explain. But in all seriousness, how do you think your father will react when he finds out that you're dating a Weasely?" Ginny asked worriedly.

"He'll be extremely pissed. Extremely, extremely pissed," Draco said grimly. "I wouldn't fancy being alone with him. He can do the Cruciatious curse in his sleep, and he wouldn't hesitate before doing it on me," Draco replied.

"Do we have any hope of keeping it a secret from him?" Ginny asked.

"Not really. He has his ways, he can find out anything about me from any number of people at Hogwarts."

The two young lovers sighed in unison, sitting quietly with one another, unsure of how long this calm would last.

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It turns out, it didn't last very long at all. Two days later, Lucius Malfoy showed up at Hogwarts, demanding to see his son. Dumbledore had no control over the irate man, who stormed through the castle until he came upon his son, who was arguing with Ron Weasely in an empty corridor.

"You stay the hell away from my sister, Malfoy!" Ron was shouting.

"I don't care what you say about us, Ginny and I are in love and we won't let you tear us apart!" Draco yelled back.

"Fine then, let's duel!" Ron whipped out his wand, pointing it straight at Malfoy's chest.

"I don't want to hurt you, Ron, but if you force me to, I will," Draco said in a low, dangerous voice. Slowly, he raised his own wand, pointing it right back at Ron while looking straight into the other boy's eyes.

"I'll do anything to keep you away from Ginny," Ron answered. Both boys shouted spells at the same time. Draco dodged Ron's, but his hit Ron squarely in his chest. It was just a simple Full-Body Bind, but it was enough. Ron fell to the floor, stiff as a board.

"Impressive, Draco. Nice dodge. I'd like to see you try to dodge this!" Lucius said, coming into view from around the corner with his wand pointed directly at Draco. Draco took a step backwards, keeping his wand up.

"What are you doing here?" Draco asked.

"Is it true? You're dating that Weasely girl?" Lucius asked, lips curling in a snarl.

"Not dating. I'm in love with Ginny, and you'll just have to accept that," Draco answered through clenched teeth.

"Boy, have you gone mad?" Lucius growled. "Do you not realize who I am? Do you not realize how many people I've killed? Do you really think I would spare you, simply because you claim to be in love? You're an idiot, Draco, and the world would be a better place without you."

"Well, you're an ugly idiot, that's double reason for me to kill you," Draco sneered.

"How dare you, boy?" Lucius was so shocked he lowered his wand, and Draco quickly conjured ropes that tied themselves around Lucius in a blink of the eye. Draco quickly gathered his father's wand and Ron's wand before performing the counter spell for Ron.

"You really do love my sister, don't you?" Ron asked, accepting Draco's hand that helped him stand.

"Absolutely," Draco answered.

"I'm sorry about the yelling. I'm such a git sometimes, just ignore me," Ron apologized. He and Draco shook hands good-naturedly.

"Not a problem, Ron. I certainly deserve to get yelled at, after all I've done these past few years. Terribly sorry about everything, mate," Draco replied.

"Let's just forget about it. As long as you swear to never hurt Ginny, I say, let the past be past," Ron suggested.

"Well, you don't have to worry about that." Draco handed Ron his wand, then looked at his father. "Care to help me out here?"

"Where should we take him?" Ron asked.

"Good question. Suppose we should ask Dumbledore?"

"He would know what to do," Ron agreed. The two boys floated Lucius down the hall. Just when they were passing Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, Gunny emerged carrying two potions. She wasn't looking where she was going and ran right into Lucius, spilling one of the bottles all over him.

"Oh, no!" she gasped, horrified.

"It's all right, Ginny, don't worry about it," Draco assured her. "Water won't hurt him."

"No, you don't understand! That was a. . . a love potion!" Ginny cried.

"What? Why do you need a love potion?" Draco asked.

"For revenge. I was. . . well, to tell you the truth, I was going to make Hermione and Daphne fall in love with Crabbe and Goyle," Ginny admitted. "But then. . ."

Ron started cracking up. "Good one, Ginny. That's funny. Make them fall in love with Crabbe and Goyle. . . right, sure, I'll believe it when I see it. You're funny, Ginny!"

"I get in trouble when I lie, I get in trouble when I tell the truth. . . there's no pleasing these people!" Ginny huffed.

"I believe you, Ginny," Draco offered. She smiled at him.

"Thanks. Anyway, Ron didn't let me finish. I was going to give Hermione and Daph the potions, but then I decided against it. I was going to make it disappear, but I left my wand in my schoolbag, and my schoolbag in the common room. I wonder what the potion will do to your father. . ."

"Hopefully something horrible. We were just taking him to see Dumbledore. We don't know what else to do with him. Want to come along?" Draco said.

"I'd love to. But what about these?" Ginny asked, holding up the bottles.

"Just toss them, I'd say. No point wasting good magic on them, I'm sure they're harmless," Draco replied, jerking his head in the direction of the closest trashcan.

Ginny threw the bottles away, then took Malfoy's non-wand arm and the three of them continued floating Lucius down the hallway. When they rounded the next corner, they found themselves face-to-face with Professor McGonagall.

"What is going on here?" asked, trying to make sense of the scene before her. Draco Malfoy and Ginny Weasely arm-in-arm, Lucius Malfoy tied up, and Ron Weasely and Draco keeping Lucius afloat with their wands. . . she was confused, to say the least.

"Good afternoon, Professor. I know this looks strange, but allow me to explain. Mr. Malfoy came here to try to kill Draco, after he found out that Draco and I were going out. Ron thought Mr. Malfoy was going to attack me, so he conjured up these ropes and tied him up. We weren't sure what to do with him, so we were headed to go see Dumbledore. Is he in his office at the moment?" Ginny asked, thinking quickly. Her logic was that McGonagall would be more likely to believe a story about a Gryffindor valiantly rescuing his younger sister than the truth about a Slytherin attacking his own father.

"No. . . no, I'm sorry, you just missed him. I'm terribly sorry. He was called off on urgent business," McGonagall answered.

Just then, Professor Snape came running onto the scene. (Well, not exactly running, but as close to it as Snape could come. More of a slither, really.) "Draco, thank goodness I've found you, Dumbledore told me you might be in a spot of trouble. Are you. . . what are you doing with the Weasely girl?"

"Severus, I'm surprised at you. You know her name is Ginny, don't call her 'the Weasely girl,' " McGonagall chided.

"It's all right, Professor, I suppose it's a bit of a shock to everyone that Ginny and I are in love. After all, we've been enemies for the greater part of our relationship," Draco commented. He and Ginny shared loving smiles.

"Well, let's let your father up, Draco. Let him tell his side of the story," Snape said. Draco flicked his wand and at once the bonds fell away. Lucius fell to the floor with a crash. He picked himself up, calmly brushed away some dust, and then lunged himself at Draco, grabbing him by the throat and giving him a good throttle.

He was screaming something incoherently, but Ron caught a few words. ". . . dare you. . . I'll kill. . . wait till your mother hears. . . divorced her, nevermind. . . my mistress will be upset with you. . . send you to work as a house-elf. . ."

During this, Ginny, McGonagall, Snape, and Ron were all trying to pull Lucius off Draco. Ginny was the first to have sense enough to grab Draco's wand from his pocket and shout, "Stupefy!"

Lucius fell to the ground. Draco sat up, rubbing his neck. He smiled gratefully at Ginny. "Thanks, Ginny."

"Hey, anytime," she answered, giving a weak laugh.

"Mr. Malfoy, are you all right? Should I call Madam Pomfrey?" McGonagall asked worriedly.

"No, no, I'm fine, really," Draco assured her. "But he's waking up, someone grab a hold of him."

Indeed, Lucius was already beginning to stir. Snape conjured ropes and bound his hands and feet.

"It would have been a much stronger spell if you were using your own wand," Draco said to Ginny, who handed him his wand. "You're pretty good at Stunning people."

"Thanks. Harry taught me. What was that he said about your mother, Draco? I only caught bits and pieces," Ginny asked curiously.

Draco frowned. "I'm not sure. I wasn't really listening to what he was saying."

"I said that she would be furious with you, but then I remembered that we're divorced. She was frolicking with the pool boy. But let me tell you right now, my new girlfriend has incredible maternal instincts. She'll beat you within an inch of your life when she finds out what you did to me," Lucius threatened.

Suddenly, Crabbe and Goyle walked onto the scene. Lucius was glaring at Draco, whose back was to his oafish companions. But as soon as Lucius saw Crabbe, his threatening glare melted into what can only be described as love.

"Who is that glorious creature? And where has he been all my life?" Lucius whispered in what he thought was his quietest voice. In actuality everyone present could hear every word he said.

Crabbe and Goyle looked at each other, then back at Lucius. "Who, me?" they asked in unison.

Somehow, Lucius managed to get to his feet and hop over to Crabbe. "Has anyone told you how beautiful you are?"

Crabbe looked into Lucius' eyes and fell in love instantly. "Uh. . . you're pretty, too. Uh. . . yeah, pretty. Do you uh. . . wanna uh. . . go get some food?"

"I love you," Lucius said.

"Uh. . . yeah, me too. . . so, was that a yes?" Crabbe asked.

"What on earth is going on now?" McGonagall cried.

Draco, Ginny, and Ron shared secretive smiles.

"Oh, gee, I don't know, Professor. Looks like my father's found the love of his life," Draco replied, shrugging.

"Son, I've decided to move in with Vincente. You and your sister can share the mansion now. Oh, and I'm going to deposit all my money into your account at Gringott's. I don't need money now that I have Vincente," Lucius said.

"So uh. . . how about that food?" Crabbe asked. Lucius and Crabbe went skipping away to the Great Hall, arm-in-arm.

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A/N: A big, huge, whopping THANK YOU goes out to everyone who has reviewed. It makes me feel special. : - )

I think I'm going to write an epilogue to finish up this story. Afterwards I want to write another story, but I don't have any ideas. Any story requests? Just don't ask me to write a sequel, because I've already decided I'm not going to.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD FANFIC!!!!!!!

As always, but in case you forgot, R/R!!!!!

-Stacy