Dark Mark's Daughter
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Chapter One – A Potions Lesson with Draco Malfoy
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After her first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson for her sixth year, Ginny began to gather her books into her arms, ready to approach the Great Hall for her lunch break. In the background, she could hear Professor Northrop shutting the windows with her wand, her heels causing the floorboards to rattle as she made her way to the other side of the room to get her bag.
'What was your name again? Ginny, wasn't it?' she inquired, her face expression remaining unaffected as it seemed to have been all lesson, her lips somewhat pursed. 'Have you ever performed the defense spells we learnt today? In any case, I understand that it is a customary precaution that all wizards and witches know these spells with the rise of Voldemort having been issued, but I can't think of where you could have learnt such skills. Have you ever performed them before?'
Yes.
'No.' Ginny said quickly, her gaze flickering across to look at her. Professor Northrop's brown eyes questioned her quizzically, and Ginny looked away uneasily. 'I've – I've never even heard of them before.'
'Really?' Professor Northrop looked away, her tone sounding bewildered, but at the same time, Ginny sensed, disappointed. She made her way towards the door and pushed close a cupboard, then said, gazing at Ginny, smiling, 'Well in that case you're extremely skilled.'
She pulled her robe sleeves back down, after having pushed them up to keep them out of the way while demonstrating the spells they had performed that day, and made her way to the door. 'Have you ever considered becoming an Auror when you finish school?' With that she left. Ginny watched her until her long wavy blonde hair disappeared behind a corner.
I did... once.
Ginny left the room solemnly, her books held in her arms grasp, and made her way towards the Great Hall. Wind blew through open windows, and though she tried, her mind would not leave the thought of what Professor Northrop had told her just then.
Two and a half years ago she would have done anything to become an Auror. She took both her hands and parted her auburn red hair from her face from either side. That was just another dream that had been robbed of her in the past year's course.
She seated herself beside Harry, immediately grabbing a sandwich and taking a small bite from it, but not saying a word. Ron mockingly waved exaggeratedly, grinning stupidly at her, but only managed to receive a menacing glare in return. He rolled his eyes and turned back to talk to Harry and Hermione, Hermione wearing an expression of deep sympathy for Ginny.
Ginny finished the sandwich, and said on her own free accord 'I'll be joining your potions class this year.' This caused Ron to frown in annoyance, Hermione to make an expression crossed between pride and what Ginny seemed to detect as jealousy, and Harry to just stare bewilderedly at her. He was probably thinking about how in Merlin's name Ginny, a Gryffindor, could be good enough in Snape's eyes, to be moved up a year's experience in Potions.
Ron, also detecting Hermione's jealous eye, though she didn't in any way use it as a factor of dislike for the youngest Weasley, elbowed Hermione softly, grinning. 'Looks like you've gotten yourself some competition, Miss-Know-It-All.'
Hermione scowled at him, took a rapid breath and said stiffly. 'Whatever makes you think I would be jealous?'
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'Draco, have you heard from your father recently? If not I have some pleasurable news to cheer you up, whatever is the matter.' Daphne Greengrass said classily. She sat with Draco, Pansy Parkinson, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle in the Slytherin Common Room, upon a green lavished armchair, her legs crossed and a piece of parchment in her hand. With a silver feathered quill she neatly wrote down a last sentence and then stopped to think, twirling the quill around her long and slender fingers.
'No I haven't. Why?'
'Now, Draco, you always sound so deviously frustrated, with everyone.' Daphne said chillingly. She had a sense of coolness to her, which even Draco could not compete with. No one could make her lose her temper, or change her tone of voice. She always seemed so unaffected by everything, yet held you vulnerable to her mocking statements and teasing. 'Now, my father has sent me such news that your father and Ms. Lestrange had the pleasure of blowing up an entire street of Muggles yesterday evening.'
'And where do they manage to see the logical point in that?' Draco said in disgust, which made Daphne stare up at the ceiling, scowling in frustration.
'They were apparently and most probably bored. Wouldn't you be too? What else have they got to do?' Daphne said nastily.
'Something worthwhile.'
Daphne ignored his answer, and didn't bother pointing out that her question had been inquiring what exactly was worthwhile for them to do. She gave up trying to get a decent answer out of the grumpy boy.
'Think about it, all these years spent on trying to bring him back to life, and we're finally there.' Pansy said dreamily.
'There's still a great deal to go, Parkinson. Or is your mind so simplified as to not be able to see that?' Draco spat.
Crabbe nodded dumbly, his eyes blank.
'He's still got to kill Harry Potter.' Goyle said smartly, nodding along with what he'd said. His air of then-felt intelligence was burst by a sharp glare from Draco, who obviously didn't need to be reminded about that particular obstacle standing in the way of the Dark Lord.
'Luck doesn't strike someone this many times. It has to fail him sometime.' Draco said to reassure himself.
'That's true.' Daphne said, then in barely a whisper she said in her coldest voice, her lips curled and her green eyes gleaming, 'So maybe it's not just luck.'
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Ginny arrived late for her Potions lesson with the seventh years the next morning. As good as she was at it, she wasn't looking forward to a double lesson in Potions with such an unpleasant crowd as her brother and his friends with addition to the Slytherins.
'Good morning Miss Weasley. Nice of you to bother joining us.' Professor Snape said sarcastically as she made her way to the first row to sit next to Parvati Patil in one of the three left-over spare seats at an empty table, upon it resting an old and rusting cauldron. 'Or were you trying to make a grand entrance? Make sure everyone knows about how you've been accelerated a year.'
Ginny ignored him. She had learnt to do this. If she didn't say anything, and made it look like Snape was having the desired affect, he was actually bearably tolerable. After all, it had been Snape's own decision to move Ginny up to this class, so he couldn't think all that badly of her.
She glanced towards the Slytherins. Some wore looks of disgust at her entrance, and others looks of confusion or disbelief. Some obviously were convinced there was some sort of mistake in a Weasley being moved up a class, or in the least a Gryffindor being accelerated by Professor Snape himself.
'We'll begin what was explained to you last lesson. Weasley, what I asked you to read in advance before this lesson. It will only affect you if you didn't read it like I requested.' He turned to the rest of the class. 'Please remember this is an assessment task, and that no books are allowed to be used as reference during this lesson.'
Ginny nodded. She had read the chapter on Advanced Memory Potions like Snape had asked her to read. It had taken her all night to read it, and she'd remembered cursing him under her breath, not understanding how he could possible expect her to read so much in one night, and in any case, memorize it all.
'Where is the group of three?' Snape asked. Crabbe and Goyle both raised their hands, leaving Draco to sit there waiting.
'Ah, Mr. Malfoy, you can work with Weasley? I would hate Mr. Crabbe and Mr. Goyle's pure lack of simple instructions to bring your grade down.'
Draco started in complaint with an excuse Ginny couldn't make out, but was silenced by Snape's curled jaw and index finger pointing towards Ginny. Ginny could read by his facial expression that he would much rather desire to boss Crabbe and Goyle around than work with her.
Draco hesitantly moved his books and dumped them on the chair beside Ginny's. As the other pairs burst into conversation and proceeded in collecting their needed ingredients from the storage cupboards, he said, 'Now I would be most grateful if you spent the rest of this lesson silently without disturbing me, so that I can pass this assessment.' He didn't look at her.
He went to collect the ingredients for the potion, muttering something to Blaise Zambini as he passed, who laughed solidly, running his hand over the spikes in his hair. Ginny had no plans of shutting up for the lesson whatsoever.
He returned, dumping the pile of ingredients on the table in front of him. She looked at the pile, then at him, and inquired, 'Where's the dragon horn dust?'
He glared at her, and then stormed off to collect one of the small jars of dragon horn dust from one of the cupboards. When he returned, he began to place each ingredient in the cauldron in the correct order. Ginny just observed, her head tilted and resting on her hand, her eyes half closed with boredom.
'You're supposed to stir it thrice now, Malfoy.' Ginny pointed out, trying to stop herself from smiling in pleasure from his reaction.
Draco fumbled as he sliced up the Alihotsy leaves. The fact that the rest of the Weasleys were loud and talkative, but she was just quiet and observant, was getting on his last nerves. She seemed to watch and take in everything, even though she stared at the cauldron and what went in it with such a bored and translucent gaze, she still seemed to be watching it with all type of alertness at the same time.
'You know what's the most annoying thing in the world for me?' the girl said suddenly, sitting back up and leaning back in her seat. 'That – Malfoy don't put that in yet!' She grabbed his wrist and pulled it away from the cauldron. 'Why are you using your hands anyway?'
'Why the hell not? It says so in the book. I did happen to read it you know.' Draco said. Her hands were cold, and something at the back of his mind wanted to hold them in his own and warm them. 'Yes well you obviously don't know the ingredient properties. You need to soak this in the boomslang skin juice, unless you want the person who eats it to panic in hysteria!' Ginny, frowning in frustrated desperation went to find boomslang skin, leaving Draco to curse her under his breath.
'It didn't say that in the book.' He said, noticing Blaise standing behind him, laughing in hysteria at the sight of Draco being corrected in such a way. He said this in such a tone that identified that he therefore believed that it didn't have to be done.
'RON!' a high-pitched yell stopped the majority of the class working. Hermione had come from the other side of the room carrying her own strip of boomslang skin. 'What did you do to it!? It's not supposed to be ORANGE!'
This seemed to entertain Snape, who made his way towards Ron and Hermione, leaving the side of Seamus and Dean's potion, which he was eyeing smugly. Draco watched as Ginny, now returned, waved her wand a few times and with close to no effort, had the boomslang skin dripping juice into the small bronze bowl which now held the Alihotsy leaves.
'There!'
Draco was half impressed, half outraged. He couldn't put it past his mind that he was working with a sixth year Weasley who had just corrected him in his assessment task for what was for all he knew, his best subject besides Defense Against the Dark Arts.
'Just incase you've done anything else so stupidly wrong, when we are called to test our potions, you can be the one who tests it.' She said. 'Anyway, it should come in use. Maybe it will help you remember the most crucial parts in conjuring Memory Potions.'
Unfortunately for Ginny, his appreciation for her having prevented him from failing the assessment wasn't shown visible over his outrage, and he spent the remains of the lesson completing the task with plainly visible frustration, every now and again being corrected by the clearly visible bored girl.
At the end of the lesson, as Snape observed each cauldron, his eyebrows and mouth twisting into different positions at every attempt he saw. At Ginny and Draco's he nodded, not saying anything, instead walking back to entertain himself for the second time at finally being given the excuse to fail Hermione's work, as she stood teary eyed beside Ron.
He made his way towards the Great Hall accompanied by Blaise, and as he cut up his steak he wondered what Ginny would have told him about what she found the most annoying thing in the world, if he hadn't disturbed her by forgetting to soak the Alihotsy leaves in the boomslang skin juice.
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Anaili – My first beloved reviewer :) 3 Thank you, thank you and thank you. Well I came up with the idea of Ginny becoming a Death Eater basically because she appeals to me as the youngest, quietest and most mysterious Weasley, plus we've already seen her connection to Voldemort in the second book. You'll just have to wait and see how she realized it wasn't for her. Again, thank you :)
Feltons Trory-Baby – Of course Draco will be in it! :P What would a fic be without Draco o.0 Your review means a lot to me too :)
zuvalupa – Thank you :) I'm glad you find it interesting and that you can't wait for more :P
Faint Hate – Oops thank you so much for notifying me :P And thank you for reviewing and I'm glad you can't wait for more :P
Lialesca – Thanks, that was my aim so I'm happy that it came out the right way. Well I hope it gets better! But its up to you to make sure I know if it is or not. :D
Edited 6th January 2005