Thanks to Arcander, Padfoot in Purple (Thank you for the Quidditch comment! I had no idea how to write the game out!) and Enjambed Caesuras (You'll see about the Snitch in this chapter).
Disclaimer: I could never write a book like JKR. I'd write a much better one. Joking, joking…
Espionage And Binding Charms
Ginny awoke with a splitting headache, and hoped desperately that she and Tessa hadn't gotten drunk again. The last time they had, they'd woken up in the bathtub in Harry's room at Grimmauld Place, and found Harry, Hermione, the Weasley family, Tonks, and even Mad-Eye Moody locked inside a hall closet. How they all fit in there, Ginny never knew, and the fact that they were all freaked out of their minds by her very presence for two weeks didn't help much either.
She tilted her head to the side, trying her best to ignore the glaring lights in her face. "Merlin, I should have never become a Chaser for Harry," she mumbled.
"Regrets are vain."
Ginny nearly leapt out of bed and surprise, and the sharp movement made her head hurt even more. Slowly, ever so slowly, she turned her head to the chair next to her bed, and smiled.
"Luna Lovegood. You scared the heck out of me!"
Luna was sitting in the comfortable plush armchair and had her knees drawn up slightly. She was wearing striped knee socks, and a large white sweatshirt that reached to just above her knees. Ginny supposed she was wearing a skirt or shorts, but she couldn't see any mention of said clothing. Luna's shoes were on the floor, as were her robes, and her earrings (which were actually full Sprite cans shrunken down to the size of a key chain) made sloshing noises as she nodded.
"I'm not sorry for it."
Ginny blinked, before she remembered Luna's earlier comment. "Oh. I see." She pushed herself up, and recognized the area around her to be the Hospital Wing. Her memories of the quidditch match came rushing back to her, and she looked back at Luna, who had her eyes half-closed.
"Luna. Who won the game?"
The blond Ravenclaw shrugged. "I didn't go. I was too busy looking for my trunk."
Ginny instantly bristled. "Did someone take it? I'll beat their heads to a bloody pulp when we find out who it is."
"No." Luna shook her head. "I was looking for a Deckle-Kneed, and you know how they like to eat clothing. I decided to hide my trunk until I found the Deckle-Kneed, and now I've lost it."
"Did you check your pockets?" Ginny said, eyeing the other girl warily. Luna's pale eyes brightened, and she dunked a hand into one of the pockets in the front of the sweatshirt.
Out came a long tube that gurgled curiously when touched, castanets that had sharp teeth and snapped at both of the girls, a very suspicious looking vial, and other odds and ends that Ginny was very sure weren't supposed to be anywhere near Hogwarts.
"Here it is!" Luna exclaimed triumphantly, and held up a small trunk that looked almost like a toy. "I'm going to put it back, though, as I can't enlarge it here. Thank you, Ginny."
"You're welcome." Ginny sighed and tried to sit up, but her headache returned tenfold. "Merlin, it looks like Harry's going to have lost a Chaser for the next few months."
Luna didn't say anything. She had put away all the other things and was swirling the liquid in the vial; it was making little coughing and burping noises. Ginny wondered if everything Luna had was alive.
Ginny turned over on her side and slumped into the bed. She closed her eyes, and hoped sleep would overtake her soon. She still felt fatigued, despite all the sleep she must have had.
"How long have I been here, Luna?" Ginny asked quietly.
The elder girl was quiet for a while, before replying. "Only about two days. You've been delirious with fever, too. Ronald and his friends were here. They had to go, though, seeing as it's time for classes."
"Why aren't you there?" Ginny asked, with her eyes half-lidded.
"The Deckle-Kneed was somewhere around here. It left its trail of invisible goop and I stepped in it. By the time I gave up looking, it was too late to go to class, so I decided to come visit you."
"Anyone else?" Ginny stifled a yawn.
"Yes. Colin, and Tessa, and Blaise, and Draco, and—"
"Wait." Ginny's eyes flew open, and she sat up despite the pounding in her ears. "Malfoy came to visit me? And who's Blaise?"
"Yes, Draco came to visit you." Luna didn't call anyone by his or her last name. "And Blaise is his friend, the Slytherin with the nice eyes."
Ginny thought back to the train, and put a face to Luna's descriptions. It shouldn't have come as a shock to her that they'd visited. The Mal-Ferret had saved her, after all. She supposed she'd better thank him next time she saw him…
Something buzzed in her ear, and she swore inwardly. "Luna, please, I really don't need this now. I have a headache!"
Luna didn't answer, and the buzzing became more and more insistent.
"LUNA!" Ginny flipped over, and found herself staring at an empty chair. Nothing was there but the vial of liquid, which had turned a deep purple hue. The buzzing was softer, but still there. "Ok, then."
Ginny sighed and flopped back, but immediately shot up again. Something was hitting her against her head, and she recognized it for what it was instantly.
"AHA!" She looked a little manic as she tangled her fingers in her hair, and then drew out the small snitch from where it was fluttering mindlessly in her hair.
"So no one won the game! Absobloodylutely yeah!" Ginny smiled broadly. "So now Harry can't kill me, and my headache is gone!"
The snitch wasn't fluttering much anymore, but it still strained against her hand, and she had to struggle to hold it tight. After a while, she got the bright idea of digging in her stuff (which was laid out neatly by her bed) to get at her wand, and perform a gluing spell to keep the snitch in her hand.
The magical ball finally gave up, and she smiled. "At least I'm not drunk." She rolled over again, and looked through the things that either Hermione or Tessa had brought her from her trunk.
It was a very hard thing to do with the snitch thinking she was trying to strangle it, but finally, she managed to find a pair of pajamas better then the hospital robe she was wearing. They were basically baggy sweatpants and a tank top she thought she had outgrown, and everything was in black.
"Tessa picked this," she informed the snitch, who quivered in what she hoped was annoyance. She slipped quickly into the clothes, discarding her robe into the bed under her. With a small yawn, she dove under the covers, ignored the snitch's frantic flapping, and fell asleep.
"Remind me why we're here again?" Blaise ran a hand through his hair, a habit he'd picked up from Draco. Draco ignored him and didn't say a word. The two were walking rapidly down the hall, and sticking to the shadows so as to avoid Filch, or worse, Hermione.
"Come on, mate, I really, really want to go to sleep, and it's past curfew!"
"I'm Head Boy, you're a prefect, we'll fake something!" Draco snapped. "Calm down, Blaise, we're just going to see Weaselette!"
Blaise stopped suddenly, just outside of the Hospital Wing's doors. "Ah, so this is about the girl Weasel? Does Drakey-poo have a crush?"
Draco showed him a very bad finger, and checked the halls around them. The truth was, he hadn't meant to catch Ginny. In fact, he was going to let her fall, just to show her up for her comments two weeks prior. But the way she had looked around the stadium, as if she wanted nothing more than to fall—that was what had prompted him to kick his broom into action. Potter was too far into the clouds to even see what was going on. He had visited her once or twice before, but she suddenly seemed to have a million friends, all who visited at once. He wanted to see her alone, but he told himself it was purely for a chance to receive his thanks.
But now, all he could do was think about the way she fit perfectly into his arms, he body and his molding into every curve. He shivered now, and paid no attention to the look Blaise gave him while he opened the door.
Inside, it took a while before their eyes adjusted to the change in light. They both crept around the room, checking every bed, until they came to one situated halfway in corner.
"I can't even see her, Draco." Blaise complained. The blond Slytherin rolled his eyes and took his wand from his robes.
"Lumos." For a long, long time, there was complete and utter silence as the light fell upon Ginny in her sleep. Her hair was spread about the pillow, making a sort of fiery halo, and the shirt she was wearing had ridden to just above her navel. The shirt was tight around her body, and managed to show off the bosom she'd grown over the summer without screening too much.
"Phwoar…" Draco breathed heavily, and Blaise covered his eyes with one hand. He found Draco's shoulder and shook it.
"This is like seeing her naked, we can't stay here!" Draco, however, was far past reasoning. He just stared…
"Do you see something moving?" Blaise said abruptly. Afraid that he may have been found out, Draco pushed his jaw back up and made a mental memo to berate himself for checking out a Weasley.
He realized quickly that it wasn't Ginny moving. Rather, it was something in her hand. "Merlin, she has the snitch! It's in her hand still!"
Blaise let out a small noise of surprise and followed his friend as they moved next to the bed. The snitch had awoken with the sudden light (if it slept at all) and was now straining wildly against Ginny's hand.
"She must've bound it." Blaise picked at the gold ball, and it beat at his hand with its wings furiously. Draco smirked.
"Let's unbind it." Blaise lit his wand with the Lumos spell, and Draco extinguished his. He proceeded to try every single unbinding spell he had ever known, and succeeded only in having the previously clear string on her wrist light up, and stay that way, a translucent blue.
"Maybe we should just leave it," Blaise said, yawning. "I'm tired, we've seen her, and she's not even awake, so can we please go?"
"No way!" Draco protested. "No one else has seen the snitch, or they'd take it. If we get this, then maybe there's a rule of some sort saying we can win the game. Gryffindor will have a hissy fit!"
Blaise averted his eyes as Draco pleaded. "You know, I don't know what the females see in you. You're like a three year old, who always gets what he wants." He sighed. "Fine, I'll stay, but how do you suppose we get the thing off? She must have spent a long time finding that binding spell if you and I can't get it off."
"She's just lucky." Draco scrutinized her hand and the snitch, before reaching out a hand and tugging on it. The golden ball made a loud whirring noise, and Draco tried to pull his hand back. Tried.
"It's stuck!" he hissed. The snitch was now making very loud sounds, which sounded suspiciously like a machine breaking down. It was beginning to lose its luster, and comprehension dawned on Blaise.
"Draco, I think it's breaking down; all the magic must be leaving it! It's got to be trying to escape somehow."
"What do snitches do when they run out of magic? And what does that have to do with my hand?" He was attempting to pull his hand free without waking up the sleeping girl, but was finding it increasingly difficult.
Blaise looked a tad nervous. "The snitches—well, they basically disappear. And it looks like that may not be a binding spell after all, which would explain why our counter-spells didn't work. It's a gluing one, and seeing as the magic from the snitch has to go somewhere—"
"—It's going into the spell!" Draco's eyes were wide with understanding. "So the spell will be strengthened, the snitch will be gone—" he glanced down at Ginny, who was still sleeping peacefully. "—And my hand will be glued to the girl Weasel's."
"What do I have to do to get it off?" Draco let a hint of panic slip into his voice, and Blaise shrugged.
"I dunno, mate. There are way too many spells that glue things to others; she could have picked any of them. She could let the snitch go, and it'd probably take it's magic back, but it doesn't seem like that's happening. So we either wake her up now, or wait till morning and ask her to take it off then."
"Right," Draco said sarcastically. "And when we do, she'll twirl a lock of hair around her finger and say 'of course, luv'! This is Weaselette! You know how she gets; everyone in this school is afraid of her temper!"
"So you're afraid of her?" Blaise winked mischievously. Draco opened his mouth to reply, but a clicking noise startled both of them.
"The door" Blaise mouthed, and he slipped behind the curtains of the next bed. Draco looked around for a moment, before sighing. He closed his eyes, tapped his wand over his head, and performed a Disillusionment charm on himself. Just as he felt the last of the cold trickling down his back and whispered "Nox", a shadow appeared at the foot of Ginny's bed.
It came closer, and closer, until Draco could make out the figure of a girl about Ginny's age. He recognized her as the girl on the train that had sat next to Ginny.
"Gin…Gin!" Tessa crept alongside the bed until she had reached her friends' head, and began to shake her. "Ginny! Wake up!"
The redhead stirred and groaned. "If this is a weekend and you're waking me up when it's still dark, you're a cold, heartless bit—"
"Ginny!" Tessa scolded. "Come on, now, wake up! I had to beg Harry for ages and use my womanly wiles before he let me use his Invisibility Cloak!"
Draco had to hold in a loud snort, and he could see the curtains trembling from where he sat.
"S'okay, Harry's nice—won't kill you…" Ginny snuffled and buried her head even deeper into the pillow.
Tessa leaned down and stage-whispered into her friend's ear. "Ginny Weasley, if you don't get up at this moment, I'll tell everyone about that secret crush you've been harboring for Draco Malfoy all year!"
Draco's eyes flew open, and Blaise began to flail with the curtain. Fortunately, he had the good sense to stop before Tessa could see him. Ginny, however, rolled over and pushed herself up from her elbows. Draco scrambled onto his knees as she rose.
"I do not have a crush on Malfoy!" she said groggily. "He's the ugliest thing I've ever seen, and besides, I don't date people that dabble in the Dark Arts." Draco stiffened at the first comment and just barely heard the last.
Tessa smiled. "Come on, Ginny, I'm sure he doesn't dabble in the Dark Arts." At her friend's disbelieving looks, Tessa tried to modify her words. "Ok, not Dark Arts. Maybe Shadowy Arts, or Grayish Arts…a really dark brown at the most!"
The two girls giggled, and Draco felt bemused, although he hated the fact that they were talking about him behind his back.
"But," Ginny said unexpectedly. "You're only saying that because you're in lurve with his friend, you know, Zabini!"
Tessa snorted, apparently not having noticed the drapes flutter. "Lurve? What kind of a word is that? And I do not like Zabini, where did you hear that from?"
Ginny expertly avoided the last question. "Lurve is actually more like sisterly or brotherly love…I made it up for people who I love like a brother or sister but who aren't related to me!"
Tessa, however, wasn't fooled. "Who told you I liked Zabini?"
Ginny grabbed the pillow and buried her face in it. "Remember, I'm a sick woman! And—Colin told me, he said all you could do was talk about him after we made the bet, the one with Malfoy involved, and he said you said you were hoping you'd lose the bet just so you could ask Blaise out!" Ginny took a deep breath; she'd said everything with no pause in between.
To her surprise, her friend wasn't protesting. In fact, she sat down on the edge of the bed and toyed with her curls.
"Tessa? Tess? Tessie?" Ginny prodded her in the back, until the raven-haired girl turned to face her, eyes wide.
"Can you keep a secret, Gin?" Ginny nodded. "I think Colin and you may be right. Blaise—" Here Ginny starting choking, and Tessa ended up pounding her on the back.
"You called him by his first name!" Ginny wheezed when she'd gotten her breath back. "You don't call Slytherins by their first name, they don't deserve it!"
Tessa rolled her eyes. "I think you need to take a page from Luna's book. Anyways, Blaise seemed really nice when we were on the train. And I've been watching him up until the quidditch match. You know he has a little sister—"
"—Carina." Ginny said it automatically, and clamped a hand over her mouth immediately afterwards. Tessa pried it off and mock-glared.
"How do you know his sister?"
Ginny sighed. "Carina's actually very nice. In fact—and I bet you Zabini doesn't know this—she and I used to sneak off and play tricks on Gred and Forge. I met her at the Ministry, when Dad used to take me there all the time. She's in our year, so during Hogsmeade—you know, when I said that was going to find the Golden Trio? I actually went to find her. She's a really good girl." Ginny finished sheepishly.
Carina Zabini was much like her brother, except for the fact that she was more open about her feelings that Salazar Slytherin had mental issues. Despite all this, she was a Slytherin, and a very pretty one at that. She, like Blaise, had inherited their parent's blue-green eyes and had long, dark-brown hair. The Slytherin boys worshipped her; she dissed them.
Tessa grinned. "That's not a bad thing! I've actually gotten to know her as well, and she's the nicest Slytherin I've ever met! We should get together to got to Hogsmeade at some time…"
"Ginny attempted a smile, but it came out as a yawn. "Gods, I need to sleep. At least there I'm not chained to this stupid bet of ours."
"Oh, no Gin!" Tessa admonished her. "If Malfoy does two more decent things, you have to ask him to go to Hogsmeade with you on Valentine's Day and give him a Christmas present!"
"Two more?" Ginny was a bit more alert now. "We made it three, what happened?"
"He saved your life, Gin! That should have counted as all three, but I'm a nice person, so I've decided to spare you."
"You sounded just like Malfoy for a moment."
"Say it again and I'll curse you." Tessa warned, and jumped off. "Anyway, I just wanted to say, Luna told everyone you're awake, so expect some visitors tomorrow. Madame Pomfrey is letting you out, then too I expect, which means classes right away."
"And you woke me up in the middle of the night to tell me this because?"
"I'm mean like that." Tessa smirked and sauntered off, giggling madly. Ginny heaved a sigh, and at the same time felt the snitch struggle in her hand.
"Fine then, you stupid little thing. You can fly. I'm just hoping Harry and Malfoy don't have a fight over you in my room." She took her wand and tapped lightly on the snitch, which immediately whizzed away, magic and all.
Ginny could have sworn she had felt something soft slip into her hand the moment the snitch disappeared, but the feeling went quickly, so she shrugged it off and turned over. In a few moments, she was asleep.
Draco was deep in thought as he removed the charm from about his body, and as Blaise joined him next to the bed they began the walk back to the Slytherin dorms.
"They made a bet on us." Blaise said finally. "And to think, Carina knew of it! Oh, Gods, we're going to be so humiliated!"
"No." Draco's eyes suddenly lit up. "They will. Blaise, we have to reverse the process! Make them like us, and then we ask them out first! When they find out we've trumped them—"
"—They'll be crushed." Blaise fidgeted nervously. "I don't like it Draco. Not at all. And you heard Reeve, she already likes me."
"And Weaselette would never like me. She's a challenge, that one." Draco admitted. "But that's why I'm going to break her. I need to have my revenge for all the stuff they've said about me. And placing a bet on a Malfoy like I was a common racehorse! The atrocity!"
"Suit yourself." Blaise didn't look happy. "But I'm not doing it. Carina will get a good talking-to, but that's it. Goodnight, Draco."
But his friend was too far into the plotting of his plan to hear.
"Do you hate her?" Blaise said. Draco looked up and found the black-haired Slytherin staring at him with what seemed to be curiosity, but held a hidden meaning as well. "Of course, she's a Weasley!" Draco said flatly.
"Yes, she's a Weasley, but do you hate her, not her family name." Blaise was now peering at his friend in a way that made Draco cross. He tapped on the section of wall that served for the Slytherin dorm entrance and let Blaise through.
"Why so many questions?" He said finally. Blaise shrugged.
"You've always been particularly fond of teasing her. Even Potter doesn't get a lashing from your tongue as often as she does. And you've never, ever, used the Chamber against her."
"That's cruel." Draco drew his cloak about him and shivered slightly. He'd only heard about Ginny's experience, but he knew enough to know she had been to hell and back. "I wouldn't tease anyone about that."
"Yes you would."
Draco looked scandalized for a moment, before his brow furrowed. "You know she—fascinates me. Have you ever seen the way she treats her brother? Like he's a little kid, and she's so sarcastic. Even Potter gets a whipping sometimes, so I guess it's true about her crush on him disappearing. Only Granger escapes, and even then it's just barely sometimes." His eyes were wandering over the various items in the hallway as he spoke, so he never noticed Blaise's open mouth.
"And the way she treats Reeve and Creevy and Loony Lovegood, like they're normal people. Reeve not so much, because she's already normal, but the other two—wow. And I've heard she's not the good girl everyone thinks she is. And look at her Quidditch playing! Merlin, did you see that move she did? I know no one's ever seen it yet. And she has this funny habit of twisting her hair and blowing it back, because it always gets in her face and she hates pony-tail holders."
"Draco," Blaise interrupted. "How do you know all this?"
The pale Slytherin seemed to think for a moment, before he shrugged. "I was thinking of a way to get revenge on her before, and I had to watch her to find out. She doesn't seem to have many weaknesses though." He frowned as Blaise placed his hands on Draco's shoulders.
"Mate, you sure have a funny way of showing you're in love."