~Chapter One~
Harry awoke with a start. There was a lingering burning pain in his forehead and his legs were tangled in the bed sheets, sure signs that he had just had another nightmare. There was just one problem. He didn't remember a thing from his sleep. "This can't be good," he mumbled to himself. A glance at the clock next to his bed revealed the time to be 4:30 in the morning and he groaned to himself. There was absolutely no way he would be getting any more sleep tonight and it was far too early to do much of anything else. After contemplating his dilemma for a few more seconds, Harry realized that the best choice he had was to go to the common room and stare at the fire for the next two hours. With that decided he reluctantly left the comfort of his bed and made his way down the steps.
"Hey Harry," a voice greeted him at the bottom. Harry glanced around the common room with his still sleepy eyes and came to rest on a head of distinctly red hair.
"G' Morning Gin," he replied. "Whatcha doin' up so early?"
"Had a nightmare, you?"
"Same I suppose."
Ginny nodded in affirmation to his comment and pointed to a chair next to her by the fire. "Care to join me?"
"Sure."
And that's where the early risers for Gryffindor found Ginny and Harry when they came down the steps. Both of them sitting in chairs and staring into the fire as if it held the mysteries of the universe.
It was at least another hour later when Ron and Hermione finally made their way down to the Great Hall. Both Ginny and Harry had progressed from the fire to the Great Hall before that and were munching away on various breakfast items.
"Hello sleepyheads!" Harry commented as Ron and Hermione approached him.
Ron blinked rapidly for a few seconds and rubbed his eyes, obviously still in the throes of sleep. "Harry?" he said sleepily. "It's so early."
"It's only seven," Ginny said. "Honestly, you get up at this time every morning."
"Seven?" Ron said, still not really comprehending what Harry and Ginny were telling him.
"Yes Ron, seven. You know, it's a number that represents a time of day, in this case in the morning," Ginny said absentmindedly, obviously used to this sort of behavior from her brother. Ron grunted in answer and sat down to eat.
A few minutes and a couple pancakes later, Ron was a bit more alert. "What classes do we have today," he said, reaching for a third pancake.
"Um… Double Potions and Transfiguration."
"Bloody hell," Ron complained. "Not Snape first thing in the morning!"
"Unfortunately yes, Snape first thing in the morning," Harry said.
"Shoot!" Ginny exclaimed. "I have him after lunch! Just my luck! At least it isn't a double period."
"Lucky you," Ron mumbled.
"Come on you two," Hermione said to Harry and Ron. "We don't want to be late to potions do we? We'd better grab our stuff from our dorms and hustle down to Potions."
"A'ight Mione," Harry and Ron grumbled before reluctantly getting up from the table to get ready for classes.
"See you!" Ginny called at their retreating backs.
* * * *
"Geez man! I can't believe Snape gave you detention because your potion exploded. We all know it was Malfoy who added the Dragon Scale which caused it to blow up!" Ron complained to Harry.
"Honestly you two. The potion caused the table to melt and would've caused a lot more damage had Snape not controlled it." Hermione reprimanded.
"Too bad it didn't land on Snape… or Malfoy," Ron muttered. Harry snickered.
"What time is your detention?"
"Err… 8:30 I think. It's with Snape."
"Sucks to be you man," Ron said.
It was after classes that day and the trio was making their way leisurely up to the Gryffindor Tower. Their morning Potions class had not gone too well. They had to make a difficult potion in the time period; every step had to be precise. Of course, Malfoy, their archrival, couldn't resist the temptation of getting Harry into trouble. They rounded the corner leading to the portrait when they met with a fuming red head.
"What crawled up your ass and died?"
"Bug off Ron; I'm not in the mood!" Ginny replied.
"Obviously, but seriously Gin, what happened? The only things I can think of that can get you this mad are the twins pouring green slime all over your clothes, chopping off your hair and turning the remaining hair neon pink," Ron said.
Both Harry and Hermione gave Ron weird looks. They were used to the twins' antics and didn't think their jokes could upset a family member that much.
"No seriously you guys. Nobody would go near Ginny for weeks! She was absolutely livid. You ever wonder what it takes for the twins to stop pranking you? Ask Gin here. She did it all. Every time she looked at them for weeks afterwards they'd immediately leave the room. They haven't pulled a prank on her since." After this explanation, Harry and Hermione looked impressed. They didn't think that the twins would be afraid to prank anyone, but apparently they were wrong.
"So what's wrong Ginny?" Hermione asked her.
"Only everything! First I failed my transfiguration test today and you know how much points those things are worth in her class! When mum gets wind of this I'll be confined to either my room or the library for weeks!..."
Harry interrupted. "What do you mean confined? Your mum isn't here! How will she confine you?"
"Trust me, there's ways," Ginny replied. "After lunch of course I had Potions. Something awful must've happened in your class 'cause he was in a horrid mood. Even the Slytherins were frightened of him. I think it's just having two Gryffindor classes in a row. Anyways, he wouldn't leave me alone. I think I lost us about 80 points in that class alone because I 'wasn't specific in the uses of Powdered Unicorn Horn in the Invisibility Potion.' Honestly, I'm sorry if I didn't mention that the Powdered Unicorn Horn allows the person using the potion to not only be able to see others clearly using the same potion clearly, but to notice small things such as the outline of an invisible object, which unless you were looking for it, you would pass over completely. It is not a well-known fact! And then, right after potions, I manage to run into Malfoy, literally. Right before I was about to take out my foul mood on him, Snape rounds the corner and catches us. I had my wand pulled out and Snape noticed that, but I only had it out because it had fallen out of my pocket when I knocked into Malfoy and I was putting it back into my pocket! Snape didn't listen to my explanations and now I have a detention tonight with him!" After finishing her explanations, Ginny stood there, panting a bit from the emotion she had used up and how fast she was talking during her explanation.
"Is that all?" Ron asked cautiously.
"What do you mean is that all?" Ginny replied nastily.
"Would it please you to know that I have detention with Snape tonight as well?" Harry asked.
"What? You have detention? I knew it; something did happen in your class to put Snape in a bad mood! What did you do?" Ginny said.
"We were making this complicated potion since it was a double period and we had more time. Malfoy, being the bloody prat that he is, decided to get me in trouble and caused my potion to explode. What he added made the potion acidic and it melted the cauldron, the table, and was beginning to melt the floor before Snape finally got it under control."
"Geez! No wonder he was in a foul mood for our class! Come to think of it, one of the tables didn't seem to fit in with the rest. Didn't look as used."
"Yeah well, how 'bout we relax up in the Common Room before dinner? Don't know what Snape will make us do for detention."
"Sure, as long as I can do my DADA homework as well. It shouldn't take me that long." Ginny replied.
"I suppose you can," Harry replied. "When did she become so Hermione-ish?" he muttered at Ron who shrugged in reply.
"I heard that you two! I am not turning Hermione-ish. This thing is due tomorrow and I need to get it done! Ah, morons," Ginny exclaimed before throwing the password at the Fat Lady and entering the Common Room. Harry and Ron looked at each other and shrugged before following Ginny inside with Hermione entering after them.
* * * *
Later that night, after dinner was finished, Harry and Ginny headed down into the dungeons for their detentions. When they walked into the classroom, they found it was empty, and so sat in some of the desks to wait.
"So, what do you suppose we'll be doing?" Harry asked Ginny.
"I dunno," she replied. "We're probably scrubbing every inch of this place with only toothbrushes and our own spit as our tools."
"That would be interesting."
"That would be disgusting. Not to mention the fact that we'd quickly run out of spit," Ginny pointed out.
"Not me!" Harry stood up in fake bravado. "I am the Spit King. Those who dare insult the quantity of my spit shall face its never-ending supply!"
"Fine," Ginny challenged, "I insult the quantity of your spit. You couldn't even wet the tip of a quill with the spit you have."
"Aw, missy, you do not want to go there and challenge the Spit King! If you take that back immediately, I shall not harm you," Harry said, continuing to play the part of Spit King.
"And I, your dryness, shall not take back what is the truth."
"Then you shall pay," The Spit King replied.
Ginny and Harry then proceeded to participate in a mock battle in which they transfigured chairs into giant toothpicks to be used as swords. It was obvious that they had become a lot more comfortable around each other. Ginny had finally gotten over her long-time crush on Harry. In fact, she had begun to get rid of it last year, her fourth year. Now they were just friends.
"Don't you know that it isn't honorable to hit a lady," Ginny taunted Harry as they continued with their random duel.
"Then it is a good thing that you're not a lady," Harry replied jabbing his toothpick at Ginny, which she blocked and returned.
Ginny grinned, "But I'm afraid I must stop this duel right now for I'm sure that I'd lose."
"Ah-ha! I knew that you would submit to my spitting greatness!"
"No! I am merely quitting because it isn't honorable to hit a lady."
"Hey!"
"What is going on here?" a cold, smooth voice interrupted their fight. Ginny and Harry immediately stopped fighting and faced their professor.
"We were… um… waiting for you?" Harry replied.
"A likely story, get rid of those sticks and then we can begin your detention. I have half a mind to give you both another detention for your behavior in my absence!" Snape said.
"That won't be necessary sir, it won't happen again," Ginny said as their mock swords once again became chairs.
"Be sure that it doesn't. Now follow me."
Ginny and Harry followed Snape into a little used room connected to the potions room. It was dirty and dusty and there were huge spots of what looked remotely like mold covering the walls. Stacked up in one corner were cauldrons so unused they were covered in cobwebs. Harry and Ginny looked around at the mess in dismay.
"You two are going to clean every speck of this room using only muggle means, which means that I'm going to need your wands. Don't worry; you'll get them back, once this room is spotless."
Reluctantly, Ginny and Harry got out their wands and handed them into Snape's care, mentally hoping that they'd see them again in their current condition. Snape, with the two wands in hand, nodded his head towards a corner of the room that they hadn't noticed yet. That corner contained mops, brooms, soap, a water source, and anything else needed to clean a room. After making sure that they had seen the supplies, Snape left, leaving the door open.
"Well," Ginny said, "what now?"
"Isn't that obvious, we get started."
"I meant what first genius."
"Oh, right. Well, how about I start on the cauldrons and you sweep the floor," Harry said.
"Sounds like a plan," Ginny replied, already reaching for the broom.
Within minutes they were working away. Harry was methodically polishing the cauldrons while Ginny swept the dirt into a neat little pile on the floor. Everything seemed to be going well. In fact, Ginny predicted that they would finish this work in no time. It was simple really; I mean Ginny did it all the time at home. Harry did too for that matter. Little did they know the true excitement of the night was still to come.
It was just as Ginny was putting the broom away in exchange for the little sweep and pan to transport the dirt from the floor to the trash can that it happened. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Harry go white and frantically clutch at his forehead. Moments later she felt it as well. Pain, beyond what she had ever felt before. It was angry pain, very angry indeed. It touched the very tips of her fingers, toes, even the strands of her hair. She heard a high wailing sound and moments later realized that it was her own voice producing it. There was an evil in her, inside her, trying to consume her, and it was all she could do to beat it back down. Her vision blurred and finally darkness, soothing darkness consumed her.
* * * *
A/N: Hoped you liked. This is a new idea I came up with and I hope that it turns out like I want it to. It should get better. For those of you that are worried of the lack of characters, namely Draco Malfoy (I know that I put this as a DG fic, he will turn up. Next chapter I'm hoping.) I am a big DG shipper just so you know, but it won't be stressed in this story. For those who have read my other works, I want to thank you. Lily's Tale will be continued despite what you may think. I have been suffering a writer's disease, you may have heard about it. It's called Writer's Block. Unfortunately, the only cure seems to be time and inspiration. Anyway, review. Please feel free to comment on any errors. I realize that I haven't edited this chapter and would greatly appreciate your help. Thanks a million! ~Irish