Forbidden Fruit

Chapter 5 - Old Acquaintances

'Ginny?' a tentative voice stirred her awake.

'Huh?' she said groggily. Her eyes fluttered open to a concerned looking Hermione. 'What time is it?'

'Almost supper time, found you napping here,' she said.

'Oh.' Ginny rubbed her eyes and tried to recall what had happened. A tune came into her head. A beautiful melody; she remembered. How long had she been sleeping? If it were almost time for dinner, surely it must've been little over two hours. 'Was jus' a little tired,' she mumbled.

'C'mon then, let's get going. We'll be late,' Hermione prompted.

Ginny gave a nod and stood up. Trying to get back to her normal self, Ginny commented genially, 'I heard McGonagall's going to make some sort of announcement.'

'Maybe,' Hermione shrugged.

It was hard for both of them to say 'McGonagall' instead of 'Dumbledore', as they both very well knew. The death of him was still painful, but at least she made a good Headmistress. Of course, she didn't have that quality Dumbledore had. No one had that.

The past month had been difficult. Adjusting to the new changes and all. Ginny still wasn't sure on her judgement of the new Transfiguration teacher, who was of course, their new Head of House. Her name was Professor Marie Lirken, and she was a young wiry teacher with mousy brown hair. She was rather apprehensive, as Ginny clearly regarded, seeing Professor Lirken fidget in her seat.

The two took seats next to Ron and a first-year boy by the name of Luc Dechamps. Ginny pushed him aside without much notice. She was thoroughly surprised when the small boy burst out with a shout.

'Hey! Watch it!' he said angrily.

Ron looked bemused and retorted back, 'Beat it midget. I'm a prefect.' (Hermione gave him a rather reproachful look.)

What shocked Ginny even more was that he yelled back, 'And I don't give a damn! Don't think you're all that because you're older, and tall! You go around flaunting your authority! I may be little but I know things. Just 'cause I'm poor don't mean I'm stupid.'

Ginny took a closer look at the boy. He was thin and had messy brown hair that fell over his eyes. She recognised his robes to be secondhand and tattered slightly.

Ron didn't say anything, because he certainly knew what it felt like to be poor, but was so staggered by the response that he gave a sort of grunt and turned away. 'The kid's got some nerve … ' he muttered.

'You know, I could've just apologised,' Ginny added.

'Whatever,' Ron shrugged, 'I'm famished, I just want something to eat.'

'It'll come in time,' Hermione said. And as if on cue, great amounts of food appeared on the long table. Ron ate ravenously; in fact, most people ate a little faster. It was as if everyone expected what was to come.

'Ahem!' McGonagall's articulate voice rang throughout the hall. 'I have a highly important announcement to make, and hope I have done you a gratitude by allowing you to eat first. In light of … recent events, we shall be having visitors for the rest of the year. As you are probably all solemnly aware of, our friends from Beauxbatons were left without a school last week -' Ginny stirred, she had forgotten about that. '- due to … Voldemort's recent activities. There were only a few injuries, and everyone survived. Madame Maxime has requested to take refuge here on Hogwarts grounds for safety and personal reasons.' Ron, Hermione, and Ginny exchanged grins. They could guess who 'personal reasons' applied to. 'We are very lucky to have them here and I hope you are all gracious hosts to our French friends. They shall be arriving tomorrow and will hold their own classes throughout the rest of the year. Madame Maxime and I hope that this will promote some international unity, which is needed now … more than ever.'

Finishing on that grave note, McGonagall took her seat again, as the hall burst into tentative applause. Professor Lirken was clapping meekly, looking intimidated by Hagrid's loud applause from beside her.

'Wow, I forgot about the whole Beauxbatons thing,' Ginny said quietly.

Ron nodded, 'Me too.'

Hermione shuddered. It was a horrible thing, what happened to Beauxbatons. Voldemort, slowly making his way back to power, had taken to attacking important locations throughout Europe. No one knew why, but it was probably just to wreak havoc, and let the public know that he was back ... The last week, the school of Beauxbatons in France was attacked; part of it was incinerated, but luckily, all the students had survived and fled.

'Hey,' Hermione thought, 'isn't Fleur's sister at Beauxbatons? She's um ... eleven? Do they start school at eleven?'

'Hey, yeah, I think you're right!' Ron exclaimed.

'Oh, that's interesting,' Ginny said. 'I hope she's not too much like Phl ... eur. Fleur.'

Ron and Hermione laughed appreciatively.

Most of the school were gathered at the front of the main building. Ron pointed out a familiar-looking object in the sky.

A lot of the younger students, particularly those who weren't around during the Triwizard Tournament three years ago, were ecstatic and pointing.

'It's an aeroplane!' one boy said squeakily.

'A what?'

'Don't be a doofus, it's a carriage,' Ron snorted haughtily at the first-years. He was right, of course, as everyone saw as the humongous powder blue carriage landed gracefully.

Ginny waited for Madame Maxime to step out; she was not disappointed. A very large foot in stepped out of the carriage, and like something from movies, the gigantic woman stepped out of the carriage with a surprising grace.

'MaGonagall,' she purred, 'Désolé, I apologise for not being able to make it to Dumblydorr's funeral the past year.' She patted a large tear from one of her eyes away. ''e was a great man, 'e was.'

McGonagall looked pale, and there was an uncomfortable silence. Madame Maxime did not seem to notice. 'Well,' she continued in her usual brisk manner, 'I must zank you for taking us in again. We are very grateful.' She rolled her r's harshly and gave a stunning smile.

Throughout the next few days, Ron and Hermione had decided they had indeed found Gabrielle Delacour. Ginny confirmed this herself. What was really on everyone's mind was the ball though. In light of their new guests, Hogwarts decided to throw a Welcoming Ball. All students were free to attend and they were all ecstatic.

Although Draco knew he was attending --make that expected to attend-- with Pansy, he was seriously thinking of calling it off. Pansy was becoming more of a nuisance with each passing day. Maybe he wouldn't even go. Yeah, that'd be a real shocker. Draco had become drastically more reclusive; almost hermit-like. He didn't know what it was. He was still in emotional turmoil from the previous year's events. But there was something else in the mixture of these sensations he was feeling. He had eaten less as well. In fact, he was not in a much better state than the year before, when forced to kill … well, he didn't want to rethink it over in his head.

'Haven't heard much from Malfoy lately have we?' Ron commented warily at breakfast.

'He verbally attacked Hermione a few days ago,' Ginny said grimly.

'Oh, well yeah. But otherwise he's awfully quiet now.'

Hermione frowned in thought. 'You're right. Wonder what's going on.'

'I bet he's up to something. Really nasty too.'

'I doubt it,' Hermione said logically, 'think of what he went through last year.'

'Don't tell me you're actually sympathetic towards that ferret!' Ron exclaimed and Ginny tittered at the nickname.

'No,' Hermione said crossly, 'I'm just saying we shouldn't jump to conclusions. I doubt he is even able to be up to anything after last year.'

Ron was in a considerably heavier mood throughout the rest of the morning, and Ginny was glad she didn't have to deal with it, being in different classes.

She made her way to Potions. She was incredibly pleased to have passed her Potions O.W.L. with an 'Exceeds Expectations' and was off to attend her first class. It was rather later than usual, being the second week of school already, and she was naturally a little nervous.

'Good morning Professor Slughorn,' she said in a more chipper voice than she usually would have.

Professor Slughorn smiled genially. 'Hello Miss Weasley. Take any seat,' he waved a hand absently. There were cauldrons on each table. Each emitted a different colour smoke and looked and smelled quite unlike. Ginny took a seat in front of a strange mauve-coloured one that smelled faintly of lilacs. To her surprise, a Slytherin girl of the name Lenore Woodrow took a seat next to her. She had pale yellow hair and wore an irritated expression on her face. Ginny didn't know much about her besides the fact that she was the Slytherin's Seeker and hung out with Theodore Nott on occassions.

Soon, the other students filed into the room: Johnathan Derek, Cassandra Bundy, Jared Summerby, Miles Bletchley, and Matthias Spinks. Derek and Bundy, both of Ravenclaw, were chatting animatedly in their seats already. Miles Bletchley acknowledged Woodrow lazily and took a seat nearby, being in the same house. The Hufflepuffs Summerby and Spinks were similarily striking up conversation. Ginny knew them all, of course, but it was a tad awkward being the only Gryffindor.

Professor Slughorn looked pleased. 'Excellent. A decent number of students this year. I thought we'd start with something a bit of a review. But more interesting.' Ginny nodded. She had Slughorn last year, and whilst he had his downfalls, she preferred him over Snape. 'We'll look at Amortentia today. Does anyone know what it is?'

There were a few moments of silence before Woodrow raised her hand confidently. 'Most powerful love potion there is,' she answered dully, as if extremely bored by the lesson already. Ginny smelled the faint scent of musk, something sweet, and something that reminded her powerfully of Quidditch; all in some curious but pleasant smelling mixture.

'Quite right Miss Woodrow. Five points to Slytherin,' Professor Slughorn smiled.

Bletchley grinned annoyingly, but Woodrow had the same deadpan expression on her face.

'Of course, it doesn't actually create love. That's impossible. More of an attraction and obsessive desire.'

Ginny blinked. She heard the word Amortentia before; perhaps in passing whilst talking to Hermione? It was possible.

They spent the rest of the lesson actually brewing the potion. It was a lot more difficult that the previous years' work, that was for sure. Ginny had immense troubles dealing with her Ashwinder eggs, and could relate to the irritated expressions all the other students seemed to have. To Ginny's surprise, dismay, and envy, Lenore Woodrow had finished the work first and quite early too.

'Bril! You actually finished,' Ginny exclaimed, impressed.

She looked at Ginny with icy gray eyes and shook her head. 'It's not done. Amortentia takes several weeks to brew, these are just the first stages, as Professor Slughorn had stated explicitly earlier.'

Ginny was somewhat speechless. She got the impression that this Lenore girl had a lot of cheek.

Slughorn was very happy, of course. 'Marvellous Miss Woodrow. Take twenty points to Slytherin. You've got the mother-of-pearl sheen and oh! what is that? The scent is certainly much heavier this time.'

'Extra touch, sir,' Lenore Woodrow said flatly.

He chuckled. 'Haven't seen anyone quite so clever as you since Harry Potter and his mother. And Severus Snape of course.' He had a glazed look in his eyes, as if remembering the 'good old days'.

Harry? Ginny thought, a marvellous potion brewer? He wasn't awful at the subject, but Ginny knew the idea was laughable.

She went back to her work, which was monotonous and tedious.

'You'll want to add more lavender, or the drinker may faint of desire and euphoria,' an unmodulated voice said from beside her.

Ginny turned to see Lenore peering over her shoulder. 'Oh, yeah. Thanks.' It was awkward, getting along with a Slytherin. Perhaps she was just too used to Malfoy.

Author's Notes

Please review! Yeah, it's kind of fluffy at the moment, maybe I'll add more drama and stuff later. :)