A/N I kinda promised myself that this would be out a lot earlier, but I got lazy and my muse is still on vacation in the Bahamas. Please don't kill me for that. I do have a redeeming feature: this chapter is well over a thousand words. Yay me! And the most important part, this is dedicated to the tragedy of September 11 and all who suffered.
DISCLAIMER!!! None is mine. I don't say it's mine. Don't sue me. I have no money.
Tears In The Rain
Chapter 5
Malfoy stood there, smiling like an idiot with an ice-cream. Well, almost smiling. No one could call that odd snickering look a smile; the word wasn't quite that broad, nor the minds of students that imaginative. He had a reason, though, for almost smiling. Absolutely nothing compared to the joy of getting several Gryffindors into deep trouble, especially when it involved the poor, muggle-loving Weasleys.
Stupid Weasleys, he wished so much that they never existed. Especially Ron. Him and his friend, the hero Potter. They caused him so much misery, and so much of his precious energy was wasted on hating them passionately. Well, strongly, anyway. It's hard to think of the word 'passion' and 'Potter' being involved in any way. Well, except maybe when Ginny Weasley was part of it.
Yeah, he could imagine that. Potter, hero of the universe, and the Weasley girl, adorer of anyone and everyone with the title "Hero of the Universe". That didn't leave much room for anyone besides Perfect Potter. That didn't leave much room for him, either.
Good God have mercy, what was he thinking?
Well, he could admit, she was pretty. Not a bad body, either. Curvaceous, almost lusciously so, with smooth, pearly skin, most likely. She had that kind of skin on her legs. He should know, he saw them once. That time she'd stumbled and fell down the staircase, she ended up at the bottom, semiconscious, with her robes hitched up to her thighs. Nice thighs. Then there was her red hair. A silky cascade of waist-length hair designed to lure unsuspecting young sailors like the Hero of the Universe into a trap, an entangelement. He doubted anyone could get out of her hair once they got tangled. That trap was Hellish. Being surrounded by all that red hair, you'd feel surrounded by flames. If you got close enough, you could feel the heat radiating off her hair. The final trap, though, was her pair of eyes. Definitely her green liquid eyes. That was where the unsuspecting sailor drowned.
Malfoy, of course, hated her anyway.
* * *
The much thought of Ginny quietly followed Professor Snape. It was so embarrassing being caught in a food fight. It wasn't her fault, either. Ron started it. All she had done was eat a piece of toast, and he started freaking out. It's not like she went and painted moustaches on all his Chudley Cannons posters. Now Snape was going to give her a detention to last this lifetime and the next seventeen or so. If only Malfoy hadn't told him, but that was too much to hope for.
Ginny glared at him, only to see a faint, almost-not-there blush creep over his cheeks. Wonder what he's thinking about, Ginny said to herself. It can't be anything too decent, or he wouldn't look like that. Probably Pansy Parkinson. She's the only girl it could possibly be, given what everyone says about her. Crabbe and Goyle aren't the only ones, then. I don't see how blokes can fantasise about Pansy, but can't fantasise about me.
Snape continued leading them somewhere completely unknown to Ginny, although she was sure it couldn't be anywhere pleasant. Snape's punishments were rumoured to be even more horrific than Filch's, which were quite bad enough. She only hoped it had nothing to do with the Forbidden Forest, or with helping Hagrid feed his collection of odd and extremely dangerous animals.
They turned a corner, and proceeded to walk down a grimy staircase. The walls were so close; they could all see the cobwebs hanging everywhere. Ginny could even catch a glimpse of little grey spiders climbing around. She guessed Ron could see them too, by the way he kept trying to stay exactly in the middle, so as not to touch any of them. That was quite hard to do. Somewhere about half of the way down weird tapestried depicting the first Slytherin hung off the walls. They were too dusty to make out any of the detail, so Ginny couldn't quite make out what Slytherin was supposed to be doing. She guessed he was making a potion, but she obviously wasn't about to ask Snape. He'd only sneer at her, and probably give her an even worse punishment. Every step took them lower and lower, and closer to their evil fate.
Sooner than she'd expected, and a lot sooner than she wanted, Snape stopped them and with a slight sneer announced their arrival at what they all knew was his office, but what looked like the entrance to an abandoned prison cell. The professor produced a rusty set of keys, which glowed a faint silver despite their brownish colour, and unlocked the door. He pushed it open, and stepped inside. Both Weasleys followed with a slight shiver. Snape lit a fire in his gigantic black fireplace, and took his place behind an equally gigantic black table.
"Sit." He ordered. Ginny looked at the two chairs, and cringed. They were a blood red colour, and were coated with grime. Ginny reluctantly sat down. A cold wind blew from the small window, and guttered the fire. Ginny involuntarily shuddered, and wrapped her robes tightly around her body.
"Now, as it is perfectly obvious that you two started the whole event, both of you will be getting detentions." He sat back, and pressed his fingertips together, as if in thought, then continued. "It would be so much more pleasant if you had separate detentions, wouldn't it?"
Ginny glanced down at the hem of her robes. She was counting on having Ron there with her. Yes, he was an overprotective idiot, but at least she wouldn't be stuck doing some horrible detention all by herself. Wondering what evil thing Snape would make her do, she looked up.
"I have decided that you, Ronald Weasley, can help Professor Sprout degrime her greenhouses. I'm sure you will find that enjoyable." Ron groaned out loud, and Snape gave him a sneer. "What's the matter, boy? Reluctant, are we? You should have thought of detention before causing a mess in the Great Hall. You may go." Ron gave Ginny a sympathetic look, which she ignored, and quietly left the room.
"Ginny." It was more of a command than anything. She turned to face him, dread in her eyes. "Mr. Malfoy has informed me that you were the cause of this particular mess. Therefore it seems to me that you should be the one to get the more unpleasant task." He paused for effect, then sneered at the pleasure that his threat had quite hit its intended mark. "Our second year Hufflepuffs managed to splatter a fair amount of sheep's brain all over my classroom earlier this morning. You, as the punished, will clean up their accident. Filch has enough duties of his own these days, as your Harry Potter and his friends seem to cause a mess wherever they go. As you clean, remember that if I find so much as a spot of grime anywhere, you will be serving another detention where you can finish your task."
Snape got up and went to relight the fire. "You can also clean up the books. They don't handle sheep's brains very well. EVERYTHING must be clean." Snape sat down again, then extracted a long piece of parchment from a cabinet beside his desk. "There is another matter that must be discussed as well. This seems like a perfect opportunity to do so." He paused to scrutinize the parchment, then put it back in the dusty cabinet. "Your mark in potions last year was near-abysmal." Snape sneered, and Ginny could feel a blush creeping up her cheeks at the memory of her test results. "I have, after some discussion with several people, decided to give you a tutor. You may need it. The reason I am doing so is not to help you pass the course, which you are already doing so, but to improve your overall mark. You have some natural talent for potions, but your mark goes down a considerable amount because of your failure of the examination. Come to my classroom after dinner tonight. You will serve your detention then. Come on time, I do not tolerate lateness." He got up to leave, but Ginny detained him further.
"Wait, who is my tutor?" She asked.
"That, Weasley, we will discuss at a later date. Now, I believe, you have a class to attend. Unless you wish to receive another detention?"
Ginny blushed once more, and rushed out of the drafty room.
What a horrible detention, cleaning his dungeon. It's not fair, why does Ron get the easy one? It's going to take so long to clean all that up.Glad to be out of the dungeons and in a well-lit and warm hallway, Ginny sighed and rushed upstairs.