Duel in the Hall
"Now just wave your wand like this…."
"Like this?" Ginny asked in her small shy voice and flicked her wand outwards in a snapping motion.
"Yeah, you've got it." Anthony Goldstien, a Hufflepuff sixth year who was currently helping her learn how to case a particular curse (and had already aided her in the learning of a few others), smiled at her as she mastered the motion. "Now let's hear your pronunciation."
"Vomica!" Ginny spoke the spell words but didn't couple them with the required wand flick.
"Hmm…Try accentuating the 'I' a bit more."
"Vom-eye-kah!" Ginny tried again and Anthony grinned at her.
"You've got it!" He beamed at her and patted her on the back. "Why did you want to know these anyway?" He asked innocently enough and Ginny just smiled sheepishly.
"No reason…."
"Oh I get it." Anthony shot her a look of halfhearted suspicion. "You want extra credit, don't you?"
Ginny blinked, wondered if he had heard about her problem with Malfoy, and looked down. Anthony just laughed, patted her on the back again, and walked out of the library. Once he was gone the library fell back into its half silence and Ginny smirked.
"Now that Ferret's really going to get it…." Ginny snickered in an evil way that would have probably earned nines and tens if judged by a panel of death eaters, and tucked away her wand. Ginny snatched up her bag and walked out of the library. She headed off towards the lake; after all she did need to practice these new spells.
"Fred?" George, who was standing just behind a bookcase that was next to the table Ginny was at, asked shakily.
"I know George…" Fred, whose eyes were wide as saucers shook his head, we really ought to go warn the poor Malfoy git."
The two sat/stood there for quite a while and contemplated just what in the world Ginny was going to use those three particular spells for. She'd managed to get an Advanced Defense Against The Dark Arts student to aid her in mastering them, meaning she intended to use them and intended them to be right on mark. This was very bad—especially if you happened to be male, platinum blonde, and smarmy beyond all belief.
While the two Weasley twins were contemplating just how in the world they were going to save Malfoy from this fate beyond all dark fates the situation became worse. Ginny, while nearly skipping off to the lake to test her new spells on something, turned a corner and not only ran into someone but was also shoved down only to find one of her ink bottles had broken open.
"Oh no! My white ink!" Ginny stared at her tan bag that now had a large white spot dripping through it. "I just bought that! It was the last bottle!" She complained and glanced up. She could hardly contain her laughter at what she saw. Draco Malfoy had run into her, and the white ink had splashed all over the front of his black robes. He resembled a cow, save the colors should have been reversed.
"Weasley!" He snarled and Ginny simply lost it.
"S-Serves you right!" Ginny dropped her innocent act again and broke out into a fit of laughter. She was lucky she'd been knocked down on her bum because she wouldn't have been able to stand while laughing that hard.
"Why you impudent scrawny little redheaded stick!" Malfoy was angrier than he usually got, after all it wasn't every day that one of his enemies siblings ran into him and then started laughing at him openly. Ginny Weasley stopped laughing with that string of insults and quickly got to her feet.
"What did you just call me?" Ginny asked and Malfoy sneered at her.
"Impudent. Scrawny. Little. Redheaded stick." Draco repeated, incredibly slowly in an attempt to stress the fact that he was patronizing her. "However, seeing as I don't have a monkey here to translate I'll have to put it into a term you understand. Weasel Girl." He narrowed his eyes at her and she glared up at him.
"Big words from an obnoxious albino ferret who's pure blood families are nearly too inbred to count among the human genus anymore." Ginny hissed and Malfoy took on a genuinely angry look. Luckily there were no students around, because both of them drew their wands and took on dueling stances.
"You asked for it Weasel." Malfoy hissed.
"What are you going to do Malfoy?" Ginny snapped back and pressed her lips into a line. "Use your amazing lack of talent as a seeker to bore me to death?"
"Petrificus Totalus!" Malfoy shouted and practically threw the spell at Ginny.
"Mican Tectorum!" Ginny tested her new spell and it worked wonderfully. The charm formed a sort of glittery blue barrier. Malfoy's spell bounced back off it and struck Goyle who was standing right behind him. Goyle fell over with a loud thud and Malfoy fumed.
"Relashio!" Malfoy swished his wand and a stream of flaming sparks shot out from the tip. They struck Ginny's shield and it broke rather quickly. She cursed her inexperience as Malfoy's spell plowed through hers and threw up her arms to try and keep her hair from being singed off.
"Vomica!" Ginny flicked her wand at Draco and a black cloud that resembled a swarm of flies burst out of the end and massed around him.
"FINITE INCANTATUM!"
The fire burning around Ginny ceased abruptly and every one of the magical insects swarming around Draco disappeared with a small series of crackling noises. Both the charred Ginny and the slightly green Malfoy snapped their attention to their immediate right only to see a pair of very, very irritated teachers. McGonagall and Snape stood side-by-side eying the two students angrily. The two dueling students froze and stared at the teachers.
"Mr. Malfoy!" McGonagall snapped and Snape cut in.
"Miss Weasley!" He snarled and put his wand back in his robes.
"…Professors…" Ginny said in a very small voice and fell back into her ploy. Malfoy just sighed heavily, shook his head, and put his wand back into his robes.
The two followed the Professors into McGonagall's classroom (mainly because it was closer than either of their offices and the Headmaster was out), and stood silently as they were scolded. Finally the teachers demanded an explanation and the whole room fell silent. The two explained the reason they started the fight in the hall and both of them conveniently left out the main root of the whole ordeal—the fact that they were going to the Yule Ball together.
"One moment," McGonagall stopped either of them from saying anything else and set her head in her right hand. She let out an exasperated sigh and, for the first time in history, she shared a look with Snape that acknowledged they both believed the same thing was called for. "You're both telling me that you started dueling—."
"With the intent of knocking the other out, at the very least." Snape interjected and McGonagall nodded.
"Over the fact that you both knocked into the other and Miss. Weasley's ink spilled." McGonagall stared at them. They glared at each other and then nodded at the Professors. Snape crossed his arms over his chest and McGonagall let out a disapproving, voiceless, groan.
"This means detention for both of you." Snape said coldly and the two students simply continued to glare at one another.
Author's Notes: Wow! This is more reviews to a chapter than I've ever gotten. Grand loads of Gratitude to all you reviewing hooligans! Keep up that rebellious behavior!
(P.S.: Special thanks [Emeryss] for alerting me to the 'Zabini'/'Zambini' error. Dratted spell checker has Zambini for some reason.)
As usual, feel free to ignore anything below this line.
Disclaimer: Am I a lawyer, no. But I still know that I don't own Harry Potter.