Esmee: Hello all. It's Esmee. Miss me? I know you did. So Ros (my roomie, Rosaline Kells) started a new story called The Day Trippers. Well, basically it's a Post-HBP version of her old story, and quite a few people asked her to re-post the original. She didn't, and I started bugging her about it, only apparently in a fit of frustrated writers-block she erased everything she had saved on her computer. And I mean E V E R Y T H I N G. So I started whingeing and she snapped, "If you liked it so much why don't you re-write it!"
So that's what I'm doing. Of course it won't be exactly the same, but I'm taking the same basic premise. Harry, Draco and Ginny go back to the Marauders time, become students, have fun, beat up Death Eaters, play pranks. It'll be a DG like the original. Let me know if there was stuff you liked in the last one that you specifically want to see in this one. My Muse is in a snit right now so re-hashing some old material will hopefully put her in her place. Ta for now.
Chapter One: This Is So Not Good
Night was only beginning to fall on Ginny's first day as a sixth year at Hogwarts when she realized that she was bored. It had been a rather eventful day but as the initial excitement and activity faded, her mind turned to the work that awaited her, and her mood soured. As she slipped out of the Gryffindor common room and began to prowl the halls she went over what she'd accomplished. Confidently start year as single girl- check. Avoid hexing Slytherins to start the year without detentions- check. Avoid Harry to start year without pointless flirting- check. Blackmail Ron into asking Hermione out- check.
She smiled at that last thought. It had been just a week before school began when she'd caught him practicing the perfect way to ask out their bookish friend. Luckily she'd had the new and improved extendable ears that Fred and George had just perfected, the ones equipped with a recording spell. So now Ron had an ultimatum: tell Hermione how he felt, or the whole school would know on Monday morning.
But she'd finished her list of things to do by the end of the welcome feast and since classes hadn't yet begun, she had no homework. Oh of course there were any number of people with whom she could hang out with, an increasing number she'd noticed, but she was feeling restless and wasn't in the mood to discuss who had snogged whom and where. She didn't realize how completely she'd lost track of what she was doing until she ran straight into someone.
"Oomph!" She would have fallen over if strong arms hadn't caught hold of her just in time.
"Ginny! Are you okay?" Harry made sure she was steady on her feet before letting go and taking a step back.
"Fine," she replied, rubbing her elbow where she'd knocked it against the wall. "Sorry, wasn't looking where I was going."
"Well, me neither apparently," he said with a rueful grin. "A bit distracted myself."
"Where are you off to?" she asked, as he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall next to her.
"Lessons with Dumbledore," he said with a slight grimace. "So I'm in no hurry. You?"
"Just looking for first years to harass."
"You'll only find the trouble-makers out now."
"All the better to start corrupting them," she replied with a wicked smile. "We could use a little fun after the year we had."
"You can say that again." He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and she suppressed the urge to either slap or kiss him. Harry always made things so…complicated.
"You shouldn't keep Dumbledore waiting," she finally said. "And I have places to go, things to steal."
"Well maybe I should go, I wouldn't want to get involved in any sort of mischief."
"Yeah Harry, cause you've got this nice little halo hovering above your head."
"Damn straight." He gave a final wave and disappeared around the corner. She sighed and began to walk again. Okay, time to re-evaluate. Continue to avoid Harry so friendly banter doesn't turn into pointless flirting. Question mark? She let her mind wander and found herself down in the dungeons. Old habits die hard, she thought to herself with a wry grin as she pulled a bit of wire out of her robe pocket and picked the lock to Snape's storeroom.
Picking locks the muggle way was a habit she had acquired from George and Fred who had known better than to ask why she'd wanted such a skill. The reason she didn't use Alohomora was that she knew that once Charlie had been caught nearby Snape's storeroom, and even though he'd shoved the illicit ingredients in a nearby suit of armor, Snape had done a priori incantatem, and the spell used to break in of course was the first to show up.
Ginny was a resourceful girl. She'd found a spell for creating spacious and impenetrable pockets inside her robe sleeves to put ingredients in, and breaking in only using a bit of wire would keep her wand free of incriminating spells. So now she stood in the dark of the closet-like room as the door swung shut behind her, confident that she could wiggle out of getting caught.
"Lumos," she whispered, holding her wand up to scan the vast rows of jars and bottles full of both noxious and innocuous substances. One will makes you smaller, one will make you taller. She shook her head- where did that come from? A muggle book, or maybe song. She pulled out the list of ingredients she'd come for, marking them off as she pulled out her own set of small jars, making sure to take just what she needed and nothing more. It took her about ten minutes to carefully gather up the precious ingredients, and she had just finished stowing them into her sleeves when the door behind her swung open. She jumped. Visibly.
"Professor Snape!" She exclaimed. This would take some quick thinking. She had prepared for all contingencies should she be caught outside the storeroom. She hadn't thought of what she might do if caught inside.
"Miss Weasley?" Snape stared down at her, a bemused expression on his face. He frowned slightly, but there didn't seem to be any malice in it, and she forced herself to concentrate.
"Thank Merlin you're here!" she tried to look relieved. "Um, sir."
"I'm sorry?" Snape looked confused as she fumbled for an explanation.
"Yes, I was just, erm, on my way back to Gryffindor tower and I think I was mistaken for a first year, you know how they get locked in closets for the first month or so, and I couldn't get out because my wand is back in my dorm, and I thought I'd have to spend the night in here." Stop talking Ginny, you're only making it worse! She suddenly realized that her wand was in her hand, and tried to inconspicuously slip it into the sleeve of her robe.
"I see." He paused. "Why were you down in the Dungeons in the first place Miss Weasley?"
"I was getting a, um, book. From, er, Draco." She grimaced. True, in the past year she and Draco had gotten quite close to what could be called friends, but she supposed sharing a few near-death experiences would do that to you. Although privately they had declared a silent truce, their conversations were still filled with barbs, and they barely spoke to each other in public. So Snape's look of polite disbelief wasn't surprising.
"I see." He stared and frowned for a moment. She tried not to fidget nervously. She'd always been on much better terms with Snape than either her brother or his friends, but that didn't mean his glares were any less imposing. Sure, he wouldn't take points off of her for breathing like he would Harry, but that wouldn't stop him from giving her a month's worth of detention for stealing. And she'd taken some pretty good stuff.
"Sir?" she didn't want to get in trouble, but she didn't want to stand there all night while her Professor stood lost in thought. He jumped slightly and frowned at her again. This was becoming rather tiring, she thought.
"Anything else?" she prompted.
"No Miss Weasley, continue on your merry way," he said with a sigh. She didn't need to be told twice, and was down the hall and around the corner to the Great Hall when she heard him call out her name.
"Miss Weasley?" She stopped in her tracks, and slowly turned. He was holding out a bit of parchment. "You dropped this." She took it reluctantly. It was her list of ingredients to steal.
"Oh bugger," she muttered. This was it. She was done for.
"Memory potions are quite advanced, and very often volatile," he paused and Ginny wondered how he'd react if she just turned and ran. Of course he would recognize what she was making by the ingredients, and since her latest foray into potion's outside of class was borderline illegal, she thought that maybe her chances lay better if she were somewhere far, far away. She decided he was the type to hex first, ask questions later if she were to make a mad dash for it, and so stayed put for the moment.
"If you substitute dewfire for essence of murtlap, it will balance out the effects of the arctic violets." He handed her a tiny vial. It was made of crystal and the shimmering liquid inside was blood-red with the barest of golden sheens. An intricate golden stopper topped it, with a loop to hook it on something.
"Er…" She blinked at him. He raised an eyebrow as though challenging her to ask questions.
"Thank you Professor," she said finally, and he nodded once before curtly turning and striding back down the hallway, his black robes billowing behind him. Ginny also turned and passed the Great Hall, slowing down near the end of the hallway, next to the empty picture frame.
"What the bloody hell was that all about?" she muttered to herself as she cradled the precious vial in her palm before carefully looping it onto the thin gold chain that Harry had given her a year ago that she'd never taken off.
"Talking to yourself, Red?" an imperious voice rang out behind her. "That's never a good sign you know."
"Not as bad as your head expanding exponentially," she retorted without turning. "Which you should know better than anyone Malfoy."
"Oh, going straight for the jugular as usual. You know I woke up this morning wondering what sort of witty repartee I could be expecting from the young Weaselette, and you never cease to disappoint."
"What do you want Draco? And what are you doing prowling about the halls?" She tucked the vial and chain underneath her robes and turned to find him with his arms crossed and leaning against the wall next to the nearest picture frame. She giggled.
"What?" He frowned, and she sighed, thinking about how similar this scene felt to the one she'd had with Harry less than an hour before.
"Nothing, and you haven't answered my question."
"Well, I could be asking you the same thing, only I have something of an idea. I was just stopped by Snape."
"Oh really?" Ginny suddenly found the wall to be very interesting.
"Yes really, don't act all innocent with me. You see, imagine my surprise when he asked me what book I had given you. Despite my initial misgivings about deceiving a Professor, I decided to back you up and said you'd borrowed my copy of Fourier's Little Known Potion's Facts. Now, here's where I get confused. He laughed. He actually chuckled when I said this, and patted me on the shoulder. He then said, and I quote: 'I hope you know what you're getting into. Try not to blow anything up.' Now, Ginevra, please, could you explain to me what just happened. Have I stepped into some kind of bizarro dimension? Or should we start sniffing around Snape's office for signs of polyjuice?"
"Not that that's out of the question, I mean, it's happened before, well, not to Snape, but you know what I mean…"
"Red, you're babbling again," Draco said cutting her off. He put one hand on her shoulder. "Have you been sniffing potion's fumes again?" he asked condescendingly.
"Oh shut up," Ginny replied irritably, punching him lightly on the arm.
"You man-handling my girl Malfoy?" They both turned to glare at the boy who was approaching from down the hall.
"I was not man-handling her," Draco said through gritted teeth.
"And as I'm not your girl anymore, I can be man-handled by whomever I please," Ginny added.
"Good lord, that is more information than I need to know," Harry replied with a grin. "So, what's up."
"Oh, I'm just converting young innocent Ginevra here to the dark side. We were just about to go eat some kittens, possibly steal from the poor, knock over an elderly person crossing the road." Draco tried to suppress a grin. "You know, the usual."
"The effects of a Peroxide-poisoned brain, I suspect," Harry replied with a matching smirk.
"That's rich coming from the owner of that rats-nest you like to call hair." Draco gave Harry a slight push. Ginny rolled her eyes.
"Screw you Ferret-face."
"In your dreams Wonder Boy." A brief struggle followed as Harry simultaneously tried to push Draco and get away from the fist that was aimed at his head. Ginny sighed and stepped forward to try and pry the two boys apart.
"Why do I feel like I'm babysitting whenever the two of you are together?" she asked rhetorically. "Oh shit." One of the boys stepped on the hem of her robe and she grasped the front of each of their robes as she lost her balance. This only succeeded in knocking their heads together, and finishing off whatever balance the three had left. Harry took a step backward, and the other two toppled after him. He reached out one hand to steady himself against the wall that was right behind him, but his arm went straight through the empty frame.
"What the hell?" he managed to say before all three fell into the thick darkness.
"This is so not good," Ginny thought before slamming into unconsciousness.