"Ginny," the voice beckoned. "Ginny…Ginny…Ginny…." It called her over and over. There was no sign of from who or where it came. "Ginny!" Ginny shot up in bed, only moving her eyes to look across the room. They stopped on a dark shadow to her right. As she was about to scream, a hand fell over her mouth. "Ginny! Quiet! You don't want to wake everyone!" The shadow moved forward so the light of the sun rising coming through the window fell upon it.
"Oh, Gemna," Ginny sighed as the hand was removed. "You scared me! What happened? Why are we up so early?"
Gemna giggled. "I'm always up early. According to Hermione's chart, today's the day I'm supposed to spend getting to know you. Unfortunately, we don't have any classes together so that leaves us now, meals, and after dinner. However, I think after dinner tonight Harry wanted to continue that discussion on levitation classes for profit. I've been considering it. I think it could work. But anyways, I was hoping you wouldn't mind if we hung out now to make up for it," she whispered.
Meanwhile, Ginny quietly got up and dressed. "Of course I'll spend time with you now. At least we'll have everything to ourselves. No one else is up yet."
"Actually," Gemna contradicted, "I saw Draco sitting by the lake with a notebook. I think he was writing something. Look."
Gemna and Ginny looked out the window together. "You know, I can't believe I'm saying this, but he actually looks kinda nice sitting there in the sun rise. Don't EVER repeat that." They laughed as quietly as they could, as not to wake the other girls. "Come on, let's go 'conveniently show up' there."
The two girls casually walked over to the lake, pretending to be on a morning stroll. Malfoy didn't notice; he was writing. "Hey Draco," Gemna said as they sat down next to him.
Malfoy was startled and dropped his quill. "Oh, h-hello Gemna. Weasley."
Ginny glared at him. "It's Ginny, actually," Gemna said before Ginny could utter a syllable of an insult. "We were just going for a morning stroll around the lake. What are you doing up so early?"
He paused for a second to consider the expense of admitting anything near Ginny. "Oh…." He said after a few moments. "I was thinking about what you said about, you know, being inspired by the lake. I was writing a…a…."
"A what?" Ginny asked. "I swear I won't tell."
"You better not, Weas…Ginny. Okay, I was righting a poem."
"A poem?" Gemna smiled. "May I please read it?"
"It's not finished yet," Malfoy told her.
"Please Draco?" Gemna looked into Malfoy's eyes for a moment. His face went blank until he spoke again seconds later.
"Well, alright." He smiled back at her and handed her the notebook.
Gemna read it out loud as Ginny looked over her shoulder. It read:
Sweet angle in the morning sun
You are my love. You are the one
The day goes on and you I see
In every flower; in every tree
Your eyes are like the evening starsTaking my imagination far
Your smile; it completes my day
And I love just how you walk that way
Your perfect looks, your perfect mind
Your beauty's unlike any other kind
I wish you were solely for me
Yet I merely wish you happy
For if you do choose another
In my heart, we'll still have each other
She handed the notebook back to Malfoy. "Draco…that's gorgeous. It sounds complete to me. It also sounds like it belongs in a book." Ginny just couldn't say anything, though she, too, found the poem romantic and beautiful.
"Thanks Gemna, but please don't tell anyone. I don't want anyone to know that someone with my reputation is writing poetry. I never have before. After Saturday, something you said just inspired me." Malfoy blushed slightly as he said this.
"Thank you, Draco. Don't worry; your secret's safe with us. Oh look, the sun's up completely now. We better head back before the guys and Hermione get suspicious. See you in class." Gemna lightly hugged Malfoy as she and Ginny got up and walked away. As they returned to the castle, Ginny turned back and saw, to her surprise, Malfoy staring up and grinning as if he had just found a thousand Galleons.
"Good morning," Gemna said to the portrait of the fat lady. "You're looking wonderful this morning." She knew that she couldn't have changed, but she wanted to compliment her anyway.
"Why thank you, dear. You and Miss Weasley are, as well. Sorry, but it's required; what's the password?"
Ginny giggled and said "Flaming ducks." After she managed to get out the password, she burst into laughter, along with Gemna and the portrait.
"Yes, I know dear," she said as she calmed down. "The passwords get more bizarre every year." She then swung open and the two girls sat down in two chairs they could easily see Harry, Ron and Hermione from.
After about half an hour of gossiping and story telling, the other three friends walked over. "How long have you girls been down here?" Ron asked as the two of them got up and walked with the others to breakfast.
"Well, I woke Ginny at about six. We went for a walk around the lake and then came back here for about a half hour." They looked at each other and maintained their silence by biting their lips. Though it was Malfoy, a promise about a situation like that could not be broken. When they sat down at the table, they all immediately grabbed food. They ate as fast as they could and split up to their first classes twenty minutes later.
The four of them sat down in Charms just in time for Professor Flitwick to come in. "Good morning everyone. I hope you all had a pleasant summer," he said. "Today we will be learning how to numb. This is exactly what it sounds like. You will be numbing parts of the body: hands or arms. Your homework tonight is to practice it if you haven't gotten it right by the end of class and to write ten lines on the uses of this charm. You will need a partner and the book Charms and Spells to Know by Mikayla Gingold. By the way, for anyone whose interested, I was told that there is a book signing by the authors of nearly all your books this year on the same day as the first trip to Hogsmeade. I will give extra credit for each signature. Now, please turn to page five in the book and begin."
"Extra credit? Something tells me we'll need that. We better make a note to go." Ron and Harry actually agreed with Hermione on this. "Care to be my partner again, Ron?"
"Um, sure." He would have preferred to work with Gemna, but he just reminded himself that tomorrow was his turn to spend the whole day with her.
"I suppose we should pair up again, too." Harry said, turning to Gemna and opening his book. "Would you like to go first?"
"I think you should, Harry. If I numb your arm, you may not be able to hold your wand," she said.
"Well, if you insist. Let's see, I just point my wand at your arm and say the words. Sounds simple." Gemna put her arm on the desk and waited for Harry to attempt the charm. "Denervious!" he said.
Gemna tried to move her arm. "Great Harry! That was easy! Except, now I can't move this arm." Though Harry looked worried, she laughed. "Well, at least it's my left arm. Besides, I only need one hand for this anyway. Ready?" Harry put his left arm on the table and nodded. "Denervious!" she said as she pointed a finger at as his arm.
"Wow, it feels weird. Just like when your arm falls asleep. How long until we can move them again?" Harry asked her.
"Let me check." Gemna skimmed down the page. "Looks like our arms are going to be like this for fifteen minutes. Luckily, we can start on our homework with the other ones. I want to talk about that levitation class thing you suggested. I think it may work. Couldn't hurt to have extra money for Hogsmeade, could it?"
They laughed. "Okay, after dinner we can go to our room again." He pulled out parchment and a quill and began to write. The Numbing Charm is very useful in….
The next class was Herbology. When they arrived in the greenhouse, the sixth years were stunned. Instead of the normal green blob that encompassed the structure, the room was covered in brightly colored daisies. "Have you ever seen daisies like these before?" Hermione said in awe. Some were blue and gold, others orange and magenta. Some of them were even a bright red with a vivid purple.
"Good morning class," Professor Sprout said as she entered from an alternate door. "As you can see, this year's curriculum is going to be unique. You will see what I mean as we go through it. Right now, please take out Herbology Today and open to the first assignment: Building Butterflies. Now, part of this lesson requires Transfiguration, so after you complete the necessary steps here, leave them with me and I will have them delivered to Professor McGonagall in time for your next lesson. You will be completing the project there and the grade will count for both classes. Which also means you'll need to be bringing this class' book to your next Transfiguration lesson. Well, I won't keep you any longer. Feel free to work in groups as long as you aren't too loud." At this, she turned and exited through the door she had come in.
"We're building butterflies? And it counts for a double grade?" Ron hit himself in the head with his book a couple times.
"Relax, Ron," Gemna said as she took the book from him. "Hermione and I read the book the other day and the assignment is easier than it sounds. I'll work with you, okay?" Ron smiled and nodded as Gemna returned his book.
"I guess we can work together, right Hermione?" Harry asked hopefully. He definitely preferred Gemna, but he also preferred not failing. Hermione smirked and shoved his book at him.
The students had to first choose a type of butterfly they wanted to make. All four of them chose the Monarch Butterfly. Then, they picked daisies with the appropriate color combinations. They arranged the petals in the order listed in the book and stuck them together with Madam Megan's Magic-Making Mixture. It looked a lot like honey, so Neville tried to eat some. His tongue grew antenna and feet; he had to get to the hospital wing immediately to get it restored to normal. As the students headed to lunch, Malfoy and his gang made tons of jokes. Now that he'd revealed a deep, dark secret to Gemna, he oddly didn't feel bad about being mean when he was around her.
At lunch, Ginny and Gemna were in incessant conversation over Cho and her clique's choices of hairstyles. "Ooh, Cho's braids are so pretty on her! But they definitely don't work for Jessianica," Ginny laughed.
"I know, and look at Alanna's hair! That blue tone may seem weird, but she can really make it work. It brings out her eyes." Gemna and Ginny giggled as the clique walked over and said brief "hey's" and "how are you's".
After they walked away, Ron said, "So, um, Ginny, how were your classes this morning?" He was getting tired of listening to comments on hair.
"Pretty good. Hagrid said hello for you guys and he wanted me to tell you that all the other classes so far find Oregana adorable. I saw her; you guys did a great job."
"Thank you," Hermione said after swallowing some cranberry juice. "I'm glad you two realized the importance of not keeping wild creatures in captivity." The three girls turned towards Ron and Harry.
"Um, right." Harry really wasn't sure how to comment any further on that, so he changed the subject. "So what do we have after lunch? I'm drawing a blank on the schedule."
"I think it's Divination. Then History," Hermione answered.
***(Sorry for not typing what happened in these classes or at dinner! If I'm ever going to get to the next chapter, I got to eliminate some stuff. And this way, Michelle won't kill me for not having this one posted! Lol. If you just quickly scroll down the page once in a while, I may update it with what happened. For now, just be glad I didn't type the entire history lecture they got. Lol.)***
After dinner, the five of them headed up to Harry and Ron's room again. They locked the door, sat down, and pulled out the map, along with notepads and quills. "This will be so cool!" Ginny said. "Nearly every kid in the school will fork over money to levitate."
"Well, not everyone can do it. We'll have to have a waiver for if they fail to accomplish anything," Gemna added.
"I'll take care of registration forms, waivers, and pricing," Hermione said as she began writing out necessary information immediately.
"Okay, so Hermione is taking care of financing and registration. Got it." Harry wrote it down in his notebook and opened the map. "Anyway, the room we can use is right here." He pointed to exactly where the hidden room would be in relation to where they were. "See? We go to the seventh floor. Then there will be an empty wall across from a picture of Barnabas the Barmy trying to train trolls to do ballet. All we have to do is walk past it three times and think about the kind of room we need. Then a door will appear there. You'll understand when we go there."
"Can we go right now?" Gemna asked the moment he finished his sentence.
"Now? I don't think so. It's too easy to get caught," Ginny sighed. "We could go Friday. Everyone stays up later on Fridays, so it won't be too suspicious."
Everyone agreed with her. "Alright," Ron said. "So we have a room, Hermione's doing the money thing and registration stuff…what else do we need?"
"How bout a method of advertising? We can't just go posting flyers," Harry mentioned.
"I think I know!" Gemna exclaimed. "We could tell the people we most trust and have them spread it to people they trust, and etcetera. What do you think?"
"That may actually work," Harry said. "You could talk to the sixth year girls, Ron and I could talk to the guys, and Ginny can talk to fifth years. That way it'll be a more mature crowd than just an ad or something." They all nodded in agreement. They all then heard voices approaching. Ron went to unlock the door again as Hermione, Gemna, and Ginny shoved their notebooks in their bags and Harry cleared the map and put it away. "Hey guys," he said as Seamus, Dean, and Neville entered the room.
"Again? Nothing that exciting happened today. What were you talking about now?" Dean asked both jokingly and cautiously.
Harry looked at Gemna and read her facial expression. "Close the door and we'll explain the whole thing." The three boys looked at each other before Dean closed the door and they all sat down.
Fifteen minutes later…
"Levitation? Wicked! You are so cool, Gemna," Seamus said enthusiastically.
"Is it safe?" Neville asked.
"Thanks Seamus. And yes, Neville, of course it's safe. Besides, first classes will be over beds. If you fall, you'll hit a mattress." Gemna giggled.
"Well, it sounds good to me," Dean decided. "How much does it cost?"
"One Sickle," Hermione said. "It will cover ten classes. Any extra classes will be ten Knuts each or another Sickle for ten more."
"That sounds fair," Seamus said nodding. The three boys took out a Sickle each and handed them to Gemna who put them in her bag. "Two questions: when's the first class and should we tell anyone?"
"Only tell people you know you can trust. We don't want this spreading too much. And only fifth and sixth year students," Ron declared.
"I think we should have the first class next Friday. Not this one, the one after. That should give us plenty of time to finish coordinating everything," Gemna decided. "Wow, it's late. Almost eleven! We better be going to bed. See you all tomorrow morning. Oh, and I think it's your day tomorrow, Ron. Goodnight everyone." The three girls gave the guys hugs and went back to their dorms.
"'Your day?' What's she talking about, Ron?" Seamus smirked.
"Nothing. Hermione made a schedule of when the four of us could each spend the day with her so we could get, you know, like, on the same level."
Dean's lip curled in and Seamus' face turned pink. They were obviously trying their best not to laugh. They apparently had different ideas of what was happening. "Well," Dean said after he had calmed down, "aren't you lucky? You guys get to hang with them all the time."
"Quit it, Dean," Harry joked. "We went through this yesterday. Nothing's going on."
"I bet you wish there was something," he answered.
Harry blushed. "Well…well so do you! You said so yourself!" They all laughed. "So we're getting more interested in girls. Big deal. We're sixteen year old guys; what are we supposed to like? Ponies and dollhouses?" They all burst into laughter again. After they calmed down (about ten minutes later) they got changed for bed.
"Hey," Ron said as he got under the covers of his bed. "Have you ever wondered what girl say about us?"
"Of course," the other four boys said at the same time.
"What if I knew a way we could find out?" Ron couldn't believe what he was saying. Would he really spy on Gemna and the other girls?
"Ooh, do tell," Seamus said jokingly.
"Ron, you're not talking about…." Harry started to say.
"Yup," Ron interrupted. "Fred and George's Extendable Ears. My brothers invented something that allows you to hear things in other places. We could slip one into one of their bags tomorrow and that way could hear every word."
"Ron, that is both the meanest and coolest idea you ever had." Everyone laughed with Harry. "Tomorrow then. It does feel kind of mean, but if we're caught, we could say it was so we could find common interests." They all giggled again and said goodnight to each other. The lights went out and, within minutes, they were all dreaming of what they would overhear.
After telling the other girls about the levitation class, Hermione and Gemna got changed for bed. "I wonder what those boys talk about after we leave," Hermione said as she put on a dark blue nightgown.
Emilia got into bed and said, "You know they talk about us."
All the girls giggled. "Well," Hermione said as she, too, got under her blanket, "I know that. The whole world knows that." They all giggled again. "But I mean like what? What do they say?"
"You know," Gemna said slyly, "there are ways to find out."
"Like what?" Courtney said anxiously.
"The levitation classes. I can get them entranced enough to get them to tell us. Let's just say I have experience in many forms of hypnosis." Gemna did not make eye contact with anyone when she said this.
"Awesome!" Emilia said. "That's so cool! I'm really looking forward to next Friday now. But we better not talk about it anymore. They may pick up on it."
The other girls agreed and they all went to bed. Not a single one of the girls in that room, unlike the boys, dreamt of gossip. They all were too concentrated on the power they could gain through levitation. With the exception of Gemna, that is. She had no dream.