Detention, Gargoyles, and Quaffles
"This is absolutely the worst detention ever!" Ginny shouted and ignored her own echo as her voice reverberated off the castle walls.
Never before had Ginny, or any other Gryffindor since the days of the marauders, seen the school ingredient stores. Sure, Snape had his little closet full of ingredients and his personal stash of the rarest items he could get his clammy, bony hands on, but this was much different. Much more impressive.
The school stores were like a set of catacombs, hidden down in what Snape had called 'the second basement.' There was a central chamber filled with bottles, tubes, vials, jars, jugs, boxes, and endless shelves filled with more ingredients and books on concocting than Ginny had ever seen in her entire life. Along the circular walls of the main chamber there were five doors leading into smaller 'closets' and storage rooms. Ginny, amidst it all, seemed a very insignificant thing. All in all, the dark and ominous stores reminded her vaguely of the Chamber of Secrets—not that she'd comment on that aloud.
But, of course, Snape wouldn't just leave a Gryffindor (not to mention a Weasley at that) alone in such a monolithic storage facility alone. Snape had sent his best and brightest to look after her.
Obscured from view, sitting at a desk that was leaned up against the north side of the circular wall, was one Draco Malfoy. Draco, though more than mildly amused at the situation remained silent and kept Ginny unaware of his presence. He was, after all, trying to get on her good side. Draco watched her with keen interest as she tried (in vain) to walk carefully through the sea of scattered containers without stepping on one or getting her robes dirty. Just before she made it to the first door she stepped on an arrant bottle and was thrown off her balance and into a stack of old, yellowed, papers. Once she struck the pile a great cloud of dust exploded forth from the tomes and sent her into a sneezing fit.
Draco was hard pressed not to laugh.
"Bloody room!" Ginny shouted again and waved her hands in front of her face to try and clear the dust away. "When was the last time it was cleaned?" She asked aloud as she stood up and made her way towards the door again. This time, however, rather than walking carefully she tromped through the ingredients, kicking and shoving them out of the way with her foot.
Ginny made her way to the door that Snape had pointed at when she'd asked where to look but when she tried to open it she was practically shocked out of her senses. Had she ever seen any old 'Disney' movies she would have gotten the joke, but her father had never been able to successfully operate a V.C.R. The doorknob stretched out when she tried to pull it open and snapped back as she released it. The knob struck the door, causing a resounding thud to echo through the room, and then the gargoyle shaped doorknocker came alive.
"What ho!" The gargoyle's eyes flew open and the ring that hung from its bottom fangs clinked against the door. "Just who're you?"
It took Ginny a moment, but she gathered up the presence of mind to answer.
"I'm the poor girl whose got to go in there and retrieve ingredients for that snake Snape." Ginny grumbled and the gargoyle gave her a strange look.
"Who?" The gargoyle cocked an iron eyebrow (with a squeak).
"Snape. The potions master…hey, what happened to your ominous accent?" Ginny paused and blinked at the door-mounted sculpture.
"What? Oh!" The gargoyle shifted its ring nervously once and cleared its throat. "I know not of this Snape."
"…Right…." Ginny stared at the creature with a flat look and just shook her head. "Let me in."
"No."
"What do you mean, 'no'?" Ginny asked irritably and the gargoyle closed its eyes in a most superior manner.
"Not unless you know the password."
"Let me guess…is it 'Snoitop'?"
"How'd you know!" The gargoyle looked more than a bit shocked. "Erm…I mean…nay! You're incorrect!"
"Only an idiot would use potions spelled backwards as the password into the stores." Ginny rolled her eyes.
"Idiot am I?" The gargoyle sounded vaguely American when it was pissed off and without its ominous accent.
"Well, as much as it pains me to admit it, Snape's not that dull." Ginny shrugged and the gargoyle glared at her.
"Don't say that!"
Ginny whirled around as she heard the shout and Draco fell out of his chair from the shock. Alicia, Katie, and Angelina were standing, in full Quidditch regalia, at the door that led into the circular room from the hall outside.
"Honestly! Admitting that Snape isn't dim is the first step to liking the bloke." Katie added in—it had been Angelina who shouted.
"What are you three doing here?" Ginny stared at them incredulously. "It's got to be five thirty in the morning for Merlin's sake."
"Why we're here to get you!" Katie shouted and then laughed.
"Get me?" Ginny looked more than a bit puzzled.
"We'll explain in a moment, but first…." Alicia trailed off and looked around the room. "Where's Snape's little mole?"
"I don't appreciate being referred to as a filthy tunneling rodent, Gryffindor." Draco stepped out from his hiding place and dusted off his robes.
"You!" Ginny growled but before she could get in a jab Alicia waved him over.
"We're taking Weasley over there." Alicia stated blankly as Draco stepped, disdainfully, over a set of boxes and walked over to her.
"I think not," Draco scoffed, "Snape's got her searching for a list longer than my arm."
"Sorry to disappoint your beloved Snape but we've got permission." Katie smirked and Draco cocked an eyebrow.
"Really?" Draco drawled and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Read it and weep." Alicia held out a piece of parchment and Draco took it from her in a method that could almost be described as snatching.
"You've got the wrong Weasley." Draco sneered but made no move to hide his amusement. "The twin terrors are the only detention-serving students this will work on."
"Oh no, we've got the right Weasley." Alicia crossed her arms over her chest in a manner most similar to Draco's. "McGonagall wrote, and I quote, 'All detention serving Gryffindor team members are to be immediately excused for all practices. Their detentions are to be rescheduled through the team captains.'"
"Didn't you hear?" Katie smiled eerily at Draco. "She's our new Chaser!"
Ginny, though fully
omitted from the conversation, was listening with rapt attention as she made
her way through the piles of junk on the ground and back towards the exit. She
would have argued that she wasn't the new chaser, but she was preoccupied with
two things that stopped her. First of all, Draco looked absolutely horrified
that there was, yet another, Weasley on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. And
lastly, this would get her out of hours of wading through ingredients and
arguing with door guardians.
"I'm sure 'Snape will hear of this,'" Angelina mocked Draco (even though he hadn't spoken a word) as Ginny leapt over a set of bottles and joined the group.
"Come now Ginny, we've got to get you a set of robes!" Katie announced cheerfully and clapped the redhead on the back.
The four girls left the dark hall with an air of superiority. Draco fumed for a moment, plotted for a few minutes, and smirked for a good thirty seconds after he'd finished contemplating his plan.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
"Alright Ginny," Alicia shouted from her place on the ground. "Let's try another run, shall we?"
Ginny nodded and caught the Quaffle as Alicia tossed it up to her. Though they'd used underhanded methods to get her on the team, Ginny had to admit it was reasonably fun. She'd gotten a pair of brand new Quidditch robes that fit her perfectly and she got to ride one of the new team brooms rather than just one of the old school brooms.
"Time to run the gauntlet little sister!" Fred shouted and waved his bat in the air.
"We'll try not to scare you too bad!" George added with a hint of smug pride in his voice that made him sound remarkably like Draco.
Ginny smiled devilishly and stared down the field. This practice was all about training the new members…and she was the only new member. She (had already and) was going to have to fly from the set of goal hoops that normally belonged to Gryffindor, through the set of 'enemy chasers' (as played by Alicia and Angelina), and score a goal while Katie played keeper—and all the while manage not to get knocked out of the sky as her brothers lobbed bludgers in her direction. On the plus side, if she did get knocked off her broom it was Harry's job to swoop down and catch her before she became one with the ground.
Fun.
"Ready, go!" Alicia shouted as she flew up and stopped next to Angelina.
Ginny pushed her broom forward and tried, with some difficultly, to keep the vehicle from wavering and flinging her about. Ginny was grand at throwing things, but not quite as skilled at flying. Her flailing about did serve a purpose, however. She managed to duck, dodge, and swerve through Fred and George's entire onslaught.
"Got you now!" Angelina shouted as she snatched at Ginny. Fortunately Ginny was very adept with Quaffles (as most anyone who saw her fighting with Draco would agree).
Ginny turned her broom and, inadvertently, flipped it over leaving her flying upside-down. Both Alicia and Angelina, apparently, though that this was a deliberate move and looked quite impressed. Ginny didn't notice their expressions though; she was nearing the spot she was supposed to shoot from.
Ginny twisted the broom handle, and therefore swung herself back up atop the broom rather than hanging below it as she had been. She drew her arm back behind her back, reeled her broom to a halt with the other hand, and flung the red Quaffle with all the might she possessed. Katie moved to catch it, but when her hand contacted the red sphere it was unprepared for the amount of force, which pushed it back, and the ball shot through the hoop.
"Way to go Ginny!" Harry cheered as he pulled up beside Ginny on his Firebolt.
"Grand flying there!" Angelina complimented and slowed her broom to a halt next to Harry.
"You alright Katie?" Alicia called as she moved up past Ginny.
"Ow." Katie replied and slowly urged her broom over to them with her good hand. "Let me see your arm Weasley." Katie requested flatly and gave Ginny a suspicious look. Of course, both Fred and George held out their arms and flexed what muscles they could.
"Why?" Ginny asked cautiously but held out her right arm anyway.
"How in the world?" Katie stared at Ginny's arm and then frowned.
"What is it?" Alicia asked and eyed Katie.
"That Quaffle she threw was like catching a bludger," Katie said with a bit of amazement in her voice. She held up her right hand and motioned to the long thin bones that made up the back of her hand. "Broke four bones!"
"What!" Ginny shouted rather than asked. She was more astounded by this than anyone else on the team (and the rest of them were pretty, darned astounded).
"I'd hate to see what you do to a Slytherin!" Katie smiled at Ginny (the expression was nice though mildly pained). "Ow. I'm off to Pomfrey." Katie grumbled as she landed her broom.
Author's Notes: Ah cliffhangers. The writer's friend and the reader's foe. Via a few reader's requests I will, however, give you a bit of a treat.
"So recently released from the hospital and you pull something like this?" Ginny asked and shot Isis a very exasperated look.
"First rule in entertainment dear Ginny," Isis smirked and drummed her fingers in a most Mr. Burns like fashion. "Give the viewers what they want."
"And on the up side," Blaise interrupted before Ginny had the opportunity to get a word in edgewise. "Draco doesn't seem to mind quite as much as any of the others."
"Out of curiosity," Hermione shared a look with Ginny and then tapped Isis on the shoulder. "Just why did you include Ron and Harry?"
"I can't discriminate." Isis answered simply and the four girls looked back at the stage.
The once red yet now very, very black curtains pull aside to reveal three of Hogwarts finest young men clad in black leather outfits (on loan from E.I.B.L) that looked quite reminiscent of Arrowsmith. On the far right, upstage, was one Harry Potter—who looked distinctly uncomfortable with his current outfit. On the far left, upstage, was his buddy Ron Weasley—who was blushing a brilliant crimson and trying not to make eye contact with either Hermione or Ginny. Center, downstage, was one Draco Malfoy—who knew just how brilliant he looked in his tight leather pants and was smirking in his most sinister fashion.
"Potter." Draco snickered and glanced back at the nervous Harry. "Weasley." He snickered again and looked back at Ron. "You two are hopeless. Goody-two-shoes. You've got to be sinister and evil to pull off a look like this." Draco scoffed at the two hopeless heroes and looked down at the group of girls in the front row.
"I promised you'd see Harry and Ron embarrassed." Isis commented and Draco sighed.
"Very well, muggle, a deal is a deal." Draco snapped his fingers and music started playing. (No one could figure out where the band was hiding—but they were determined to stay hex-free this time.)
"Please allow me to introduce myself—"
"Hold it!" Isis shouted and cut the singing Draco off.
"What do you want now!" Draco rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest.
"You can't sing 'Sympathy for the Devil'!"
"Why not?" Draco asked indignantly.
"It's in one of the upcoming chapters!" Isis argued back and the scene was cut short.
The technical difficulties screen (with a picture of two dueling wizards in the background) appeared along with Ginny (via magical green-screen) to announce the apologies.
"Isis and Draco are having Artistic Differences," Ginny coughed and the sound of spells being fired off in the background echoed through the hall. "Isis would like to thank all those of you who review, and her wonderful beta!"