Chapter 12: Sparks and Jinxes
"Look who's joining us for breakfast."
It was the first morning back in the castle. Ginny still was having trouble sleeping, so she made the climb to the top of the astronomy tower when she was startled awake shortly before daybreak. She sat there, on the edge of the parapet with her feet dangling over the side as the deep blue of the night faded to a golden glow and the sun finally peeked over the mountains. She finally made the climb back down a bit before eight.
"Oh shut up, Jack," Demelza muttered, shaking her head. She slid over to make room for Ginny. "Have a seat, Ginny."
"Thanks," Ginny said. She sat down and took a piece of toast. She had little appetite, but Percy would send a letter right to Mum if she missed any meals. The last thing she wanted was her parents pulling her out of school because she was 'not emotionally ready to return to Hogwarts'.
"What? I'm just surprised," Jack said. "You never sit with us for meals. In fact, I can probably count the number on one hand."
"I'm surprised you can count that high," Demelza fired back. Lucy and Colin chuckled from their seats next to Jack.
"Ha ha. Very funny," Jack snapped, but the corners of his mouth were turned up in a small laugh. "I'm serious. You always were either with your brothers or sitting alone with your head buried in that diary of yours. Why honor us with your presence now?"
"Why not? You got a problem?" Ginny asked.
"Maybe now isn't the best time. Why can't we go a week without someone starting a fight?" Lucy pleaded.
"I'm not trying to start a fight." – Lucy gave him a flat stare – "I'm really not. I'm just curious. We spent weeks last year trying to get you to put down that book and sit with us, but you just kept brushing us off. What changed? Why aren't you curled up with that diary?"
"Because I grew up," Ginny snapped. "If I'm not welcome here, then I can just go."
"No, Ginny. You should stay," Demelza said. "And Jack, shut up and stop being a jerk."
"That I can do. Well, the second part. You all know by now that I'm not good at shutting up," he replied with a smile.
"I miss the summer. It was so quiet," Lucy sighed. "How many more months do I need to put up with this before vacation?"
"Three and a half," Colin piped in.
"I got the schedules," Brian called out as he walked up with a stack of parchment and started handing them out to the other first years.
"Anything interesting?" Demelza asked.
"It looks like we've got double Defense with the Ravenclaws this morning, so that might be interesting."
"Do we know anything about the new professor?"
"I ran into him on the train," Ginny offered. "He was able to banish the dementors, so we know that he is competent."
"What was he doing on the train?" Jack asked. "And how did you run into him?"
Ginny fixed him with a glare like Lucy gave him before. This was going to be a long morning.
"Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts. My name is Professor Lupin. While I fully expect to know all of your names by the end of the term, I sadly don't know them yet, so we will begin with roll call," Professor Lupin said.
Ginny sat in her seat near the back of the classroom and studied the professor. After Lockhart last year, she had a rather poor view of Defense at Hogwarts. The man was an idiot. Well, to be honest, Ginny disliked him before the term even started. While his stories were cool, she thought he was a bit of a jerk for charging so much for his books. Besides, what type of hero also published books on household cleaning charms? Then he tried to abduct Harry at the bookstore. She had enough reasons to dislike him before arriving in the castle, and it turned out he was a terrible teacher. She learned more from Tom's complaints about Lockhart's teaching methods during the first week than she learned from Lockhart himself all year. Tom had been rather upset by the decline in a Hogwarts education from his time in the school.
Professor Lupin, on the other hand, seemed to be better. Ginny ignored the snide comments some other students whispered about his overall shabbiness. Like she said at breakfast, she had seen his reaction to the dementor on the train. He knew how to handle dark creatures, and that made him infinitely more qualified than Lockhart.
"Ginny Weasley?" Ginny heard her name called, snapping her out of her thoughts. She looked up to meet Professor Lupin's gaze and nodded.
"Well, that's everyone. So I took a look through the lesson plans Professor Lockhart left," Professor Lupin held his hands up when the class let out a collective groan, "and I am left to conclude you had a fairly atypical curriculum last year. Normally, you would have covered some basic defensive spells, this year and next year would have covered defense against dark creatures, and your fourth and fifth years would have been focused on spell work and O.W.L. preparation. Instead, we're going to cover an introduction to defensive spells during the first part of the year and begin a discussion of magical creatures before Easter. Any questions? Well, in that case, I have a question for you. What is an example of a dangerous spell?"
"The stunning spell," Alex, one of Ginny's fellow Gryffindors, called out.
"Good," Professor Lupin replied. "Any others?"
"Petrificus Totalus," one of the Ravenclaws suggested.
"A cutting curse!"
"Maybe a tripping jinx," Olivia Meadows suggested.
"That's not dangerous," another Ravenclaw retorted, "How about the killing curse?"
"Bombarda!"
"All of those are good suggestions," Professor Lupin said, "Can anyone tell me why?"
The question was met with general silence until a boy from Ravenclaw raised his hand.
"Yes. Max, right?"
"Yes sir. They are all dangerous because any spell can be dangerous if used in the right set of circumstances."
"Couldn't have said it better myself. Every single spell you learn could potentially be dangerous. Consider one of the earliest spells you learn in charms. Wingardium Leviosa seems benign right? Well it can lift heavy objects. Think about the damage it could do if used recklessly. Even more if used with malicious intent. The first lesson you will learn this year is to be careful when using magic."
Professor Lupin tapped the board with his wand and some writing in chalk describing the shield charm appeared. "Alright everyone, wands out and stand up," Professor Lupin said. He waved his wand and the desks floated over to the sides of the room. "Let's make two lines facing each other with an arm's length between each of you and your neighbor."
Ginny picked up her wand and moved to stand next to Demelza. She turned back to Professor Lupin, who had resumed his lecture. "The first spell we will be covering is the Shield Charm. The incantation is Protego, and the wand motion is as follows," Professor Lupin said, gesturing with his wand. He gave the class a few minutes to practice the motion while he moved around the room, correcting some of the students' form.
"Protego is able to deflect many jinxes, hexes, or minor curses. Intent and focus are important for this spell, controlling the strength and size of the shield. It may be helpful to try picturing the spell as a physical shield or barrier. However, it is also quite difficult to practice without being used to block another spell, so you will be working in pairs. Do you remember the charm to send out sparks?" – the room was filled with mutters of assent. They had covered it last year in charms. – "For those of you who don't, the incantation is Vermillious, and this is the wand motion," Professor Lupin said, making a swish with his wand.
The room was quickly filled with flashes of bright red sparks, before Professor Lupin's voice cut through the fray. "Good. It looks like you all remember. Now each of you will be paired with the person standing in the line opposite you. One of you will cast sparks while the other tries to block it with the shield charm. You can begin."
Ginny turned to look at the other line, but she groaned when she saw who her partner was. Jack smiled at her and gave a mischievous wave.
"Do you want to switch with me?" Demelza asked.
"No, I'll deal with him," Ginny replied.
"Oho. How is it you are going to deal with me?"
"How about a friendly challenge. Whoever hits the other with more sparks, wins."
"What's the prize?"
"If I win, you shut up, and if you win, I don't know… I stop telling you to shut up."
"Nah. That's not even. How about if I win, you tell me what you were trying to hide this morning?"
"What makes you think I was hiding anything? You know what, don't tell me. Deal."
"Great!" Jack said with a smile. "Ladies first."
Ginny waited for Jack nod he was ready and cast sparks at him. They hit him in the shoulder.
"One point for you," Jack said. He then cast his volley of sparks. Ginny tried to block them, but she was still out of practice having spent the summer without using her wand, and they hit her in the stomach. "And now we're tied."
Ginny cast her sparks, but they missed Jack completely. Jack's next volley, however, hit her in the knee. 2:1. Her next volley went wide as well.
She took a deep breath and tried to clear her mind. There was no way she could let him win. Never mind her pride would never let her live it down, but Ginny knew the bloody spell already. Tom had insisted she try to learn it halfway through last year, arguing that any respectable witch or wizard needed to know how to defend themselves. He followed that argument up by saying he could never let the one possessing his diary be so undefended. Of course, that line took on new meaning in hindsight, but that was neither here nor there. She was bloody well not going to lose this challenge.
She nodded to Jack, who said, "Vermillious" and sent a burst of sparks flying towards her.
Ginny jerked her wand up and said, "Protego" and to her great relief, the sparks hit an invisible barrier and scattered in all directions.
"Nice," Jack said. "Still two one though. Come on. Hit me."
Ginny obliged. This time, even as he cast his shield, Jack twisted so the column of sparks missed him.
Ginny deflected his next two volleys as well, but Jack dodged one of hers, and managed to cast the shield charm to block the other.
They quickly stopped waiting for the other person to be ready and started trading volleys as fast as they could. Both scored a few lucky hits when shield charms failed or didn't extend far enough to block all the incoming sparks, but Jack still led by one until Ginny cast three shots in quick succession. Jack's shield blocked the first, but the second shattered the shield and hit him in the shoulder while the third hit his forehead. Professor Lupin called time before he had a chance to recover.
Jack didn't seem to mind. He walked up to Ginny and said, "Well, that was fun. That was some great spell work. Congratulations."
"Thank you," Ginny replied.
"I honestly am not sure how long I can stick with the challenge of shutting up. In case you haven't noticed. I kind of have a big mouth. Can I offer you an alternative?"
"Depends what it is," Ginny said warily.
"My respect and friendship," Jack said, his face serious. He held out his hand.
Ginny thought for a second, before taking his hand. "Friends."
"Friends," he replied, with his face breaking into a grin.
"That took less time than I thought," Demelza said as she walked over with Lucy. "I thought it would take him longer to win you over after the train wreck this morning."
"That's because, despite constantly sticking his foot in his big mouth, Jack can still be a nice person at times."
"You know," Ginny replied giving Jack a light punch in the shoulder, "I think I have to agree with that."
The weeks of term started to speed by. In defense, they spent the next couple weeks studying shield spells until everyone could cast and hold one for at least ten seconds. They then started a discussion of jinxes and counter-jinxes. Meanwhile, for her other main subjects such as Transfiguration and Potions, Ginny found she was having a much easier time than her classmates. Tom's explanations from the previous year had given her a fairly extensive, if a bit inconsistent knowledge of the subjects he considered interesting. While she initially didn't trust the information, she used it anyways. After all, despite wishing she could forget ever hearing of Tom, she still learned things from him. At least this way she could put what would have been a completely lost year to some use.
Meanwhile, she started to find her place among the second year Gryffindors, despite not really being herself for their entire first year. After that eventful first day of classes, they mostly accepted her. Well, things were still weird with Colin. He seemed to be afraid of her from last year.
Things weren't perfect. Sirius Black broke into the castle and attacked the Fat Lady, and the dementors drifted into the first Quidditch match of the season, knocking Harry unconscious and landing him in the hospital wing. His nimbus crashed into the Whomping Willow and the team got flattened by Hufflepuff, effectively costing them the Quidditch Cup. Knowing he was probably feeling awful, Ginny made him a card that she was even able to charm to sing. She did this because Harry was her friend. Well, her friend through Ron. Nothing more.
Ginny found herself happy. Classes were going well, she had good new friends, and those were things much more important than quidditch (although quidditch was still very important). She even found herself thinking about Tom less often, the busier she became with her life.
Suddenly, fall term was over, and the castle was emptying out for the holidays. After spending the summer with Bill, Ginny's parents decided that Charlie must be feeling neglected, despite his protests to the contrary, and went to Romania to visit. This left Ginny at Hogwarts for Christmas with her brothers and a surprisingly large number of classmates who wanted to minimize traveling with Sirius Black still at large.
However, Ginny felt that the holidays were a time for family, so she tried to spend as much time with her brothers as she could. Percy insisted he was still busy studying for his NEWTs which were months away, and Ron was mostly with Harry and Hermione. Fred and George were more than happy to spend time with her. Particularly, they were trying to corrupt their last sibling to inherit their role as Hogwarts chief mischief makers, having given up on Ron last year.
Christmas at Hogwarts was surprisingly nice. While she had been there last year, Ginny didn't remember much of it. She woke up, pulled on her new sweater from Mum, and went to the common room to help distract Percy while George swiped his head boy badge. The twins proceeded to hold it hostage to force him into his new sweater. Percy might be a bit stuck up, but he was part of the family. Even Harry wore his Weasley sweater. At noon, they went down to the Great Hall for the feast. The food, while not home cooked, was still great.
The day wasn't perfect though. Harry got a firebolt as a present to replace his shattered Nimbus, but Hermione told Professor McGonagall who confiscated the broom. Harry and Ron were furious, but Hermione was worried that the broom was sent by Sirius Black. No one asked Ginny for her opinion, but she thought Hermione was probably right. Besides, there was no harm done, as long as McGonagall returned it before the next match. Otherwise, there would be hell to pay.
Ginny was walking back from their first winter class of Potions with Demelza and Jack when a voice called out behind her. "Hey Weasel."
Ginny turned around to spot Malfoy of all people flanked by some of his goons. "What do you want?"
"Petrify anyone recently?"
"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about."
"I'm just surprised they let you back into the castle, after the mess you made last year."
How on earth would Malfoy know, or even suspect, she had something to do with the Chamber of Secrets. There was no way for him to know about the diary.
"I heard your father won some galleons in a lottery over the summer. Did you use it to fix up the shed you call a house?"
Ginny felt blood rush to her face. Her hand found the wand in her pocket.
"No wait. I remember. You spent it on a trip to Egypt. Have you considered maybe the reason you are so poor is you waste whatever money you get?"
That was the last straw. She tried to pull her wand out of her pocket, but she felt a strong arm gripping her shoulder. Demelza whispered, "Don't do anything stupid."
Meanwhile, Jack strolled between her and Malfoy and said, "You know mate, I'm sure you have no idea who you are talking to."
Jack placed a hand on Malfoy's shoulder – who was too surprised to react – and pointed back to Ginny. "That witch over there is Ms. Ginny Weasley. If you had known that, or ever been on the receiving end of one of her hexes, I'm sure you wouldn't be talking in such a disrespectful manner."
"Get off me you freak," Malfoy slapped his hand away, and Goyle – or at least Ginny thought it was him; it may have been Crabbe – shoved Jack against the wall.
"You see mate, this is exactly what I mean by disrespectful," Jack started to say, but Goyle – or Crabbe – raised his fist. "Okay, this is me shutting up."
Ginny pulled out her wand and pointed it at Malfoy. "Tell your goon to let him go."
"Or you'll do what? Hex all of us?"
"Yup," Ginny replied, before slashing with her wand, "Furnunculus."
The Slytherins were startled by the boils that started erupting from all over Malfoy's face. Ginny quickly shouted, "Flipendo" knocking the goon not holding Jack backwards into another of the Slytherins before they had a chance to respond.
Demelza had finally pulled out her wand as well, but Jack had already gotten free. "Are we done here," Ginny asked.
Malfoy finally overcame his shock at having actually been attacked by the second years and cast a spell before Ginny could react. Demelza shouted, "Protego" and the spell bounced off the invisible shield and smashed into the wall.
"What is the meaning of this?" Professor Snape asked, sweeping down the hallway. He gazed over the carnage. Malfoy had a dozen painful boils sprouting from his face, Goyle was sporting a bright red splotch on his face roughly the shape of a fist, and Crabbe was struggling to his feet with the other Slytherins he fell on.
"We were walking down the hall and they just attacked us," Malfoy said.
"Not us. I did," Ginny said. After all, she was the one who actually cast the spells.
"I see. Mr. Goyle, please help Mr. Malfoy to the hospital wing. The rest of you may go on your way," Professor Snape said to the Slytherins. "As for the troublemakers, I think that will be fifty points from Gryffindor and a detention Ms. Weasley. I will see you in my office tonight."
When Professor Snape left earshot, Demelza started to mutter, "We should go to Professor McGonagall. They were the ones who started it."
"It's Snape," Ginny retorted, "He would never be fair, and McGonagall wouldn't overturn him just based on our word."
"You didn't need to take the detention; we were all responsible."
"I was the one who started hexing. That makes it all my fault."
"You were totally awesome, by the way," Jack said.
"Yeah," Demelza added.
"You should remind me to thank Fred and George, they taught me the hexes over the summer," Ginny replied. After all, there was no way they were going to let their little sister go back to Hogwarts without a few good hexes up her sleeves. Especially after last year. Besides, Egypt was a wonderful country with surprisingly relaxed underaged magic laws. "You were great with the shield charm."
"It was nothing," Demelza replied. "How did you get free Jack?"
"When Ginny hexed Malfoy, I took a swing. I think he was so startled I actually was fighting back that he just dropped me." All three laughed as they made their way back to the common room.
Ginny was pretty happy about how it went. Malfoy was a jerk according to Ron and, more importantly, according to Hermione. She didn't know he was going to come after her, but it was better to head him off quickly. After the impression she left, whipping out him and his goons practically on her own, he would be much more cautious around her. Maybe he would even leave her alone. After all, if she was going to hit someone, best to hit them hard enough to keep them from getting back up and coming after her again.
Bloody hell. That was another of Tom's old sayings.
Maybe they were more alike than she initially thought.
Then again, Goyle had threatened Jack, and Malfoy insulted her family while the others just stood there encouraging them.
They deserved it.
When they returned to the common room, Demelza and Jack slipped away to tell the rest of the second years about what happened. Ginny, meanwhile, found Fred and George in the corner and thanked them for the hexes. She told them what happened, and they wanted to go and get back at Malfoy for threatening their sister, but she assured them he was sufficiently punished. When she finally told them she got her first detention, she could swear she saw a tear in George's eye as they declared their sister was following in their footsteps of spreading mischief.
Ginny went down to the Great Hall for dinner with the rest of the first years. Too soon, she stood and said goodbye to head down to Snape's office. As she left the hall, Colin rushed up behind her. "I'll walk with you."
"Okay… You know I am perfectly capable of making my way to Snape's office on my own, right?" Ginny asked.
"Yeah. I just wanted to talk to you about something."
"Alright," Ginny shrugged and the two started making their way down to the dungeons. "So, what is it you wanted to talk to me about that no one else can hear about?"
"Um… so… I was wondering if you wanted to start a Harry Potter fan club with me," Colin stuttered.
Shit. That was unexpected. If he had asked her last year, Ginny would have responded with an immediate yes. Now though, after her conversation with Hermione this summer… "Why do you ask?"
"You're the only other person who I know would want to. Everyone else would just laugh."
"But what would the club do?"
"I hadn't given it much thought. Maybe share stories of some of the things he went through over the past three years with some of the new first years. Maybe talk about some of the stories we've heard about Harry, and speculate on what things were like before You-know-who fell… I know. We could invent a card game!"
"A card game?"
"Yeah! A Harry Potter Card Game! Like Chocolate Frog cards just for an actual game, not just collecting!"
"Um…"
"It could be based on the stories of all of his adventures! Like we could have cards like the Philosopher's Stone, a three headed dog, and a basilisk!"
Ginny gave an involuntary shudder when Colin mentioned the Chamber, but he did not notice. He was much too excited. "You know, Colin. While it sounds like a lot of fun…"
"I know right!"
"… I don't think it's a good idea."
"Why not?" Colin asked, his voice full of disappointment.
"I mean, I've kind of gotten to know Harry a bit, my brother is his best friend after all, and I don't think he would appreciate it. He's kind of embarrassed about his fame."
"Oh."
"That card game still sounds like a fun idea though, just maybe not centered on Harry."
"Yeah, maybe," Colin mumbled dejectedly. "I'll see you around Ginny."
She stood in the corridor and watched as he walked away, feeling guilty. She should have handled that better.
Ginny took a deep breath and continued her trek to the dungeons for hours of chopping ingredients and sorting beetles.
It was almost midnight by the time Ginny stumbled back into the common room. If she was lucky, she might get a few hours of sleep before she was inevitably woken at five by another dream of Tom. She was surprised to find Hermione sitting at one of the tables surrounded by books and parchment.
"Hey Hermione, what you still doing down here?"
"What? I was just working," She glanced at her watch and winced. "It is late, but I need to finish this translation…"
"Ancient Ruins?"
"Yeah," Hermione replied, her gaze sharpening a bit. "What are you doing back so late?"
"Detention with Snape. I hexed Malfoy."
"Ginny!"
"Hey. He was being a git."
"That's no excuse."
"He made fun of my family and one of his goons hurt a friend of mine. He even made comments that implied he knows about Tom and me and the Chamber of Secrets."
"I'm sure he was just trying to rile you up," Hermione said.
For some reason, Ginny felt Hermione knew more than she was letting on but decided not to pressure her. After all, she had enough on her plate. "Have Ron and Harry started talking to you yet?"
"No! I only did what I thought was right. The broom could have come from Sirius Black! He's already broken into the castle once."
"I know, Hermione. I'm sure deep-down Ron and Harry know too."
"It's been a month!"
"Well we both know Ron can be a git sometimes," Ginny replied. "Besides, I have something to tell you that might cheer you up a bit."
"What?"
"Colin asked me to help him start a Harry Potter fanclub…"
"Ginny…"
"… and I turned him down."
"What?"
"Yeah. I said no. I'm taking your advice."
"Ginny, that's great! I'm so proud of you. I know how hard that must have been."
"Not as hard as you might think, but thanks," Ginny replied and rose to head up to the dorms. "I'll let you finish up your essay."
"Thanks for telling me."
"No problem. You know, you could hang out with me and my friends until Ron and Harry return to normal."
Hermione gave Ginny a small, sad smile. "Thank you for the offer Ginny, but your friends are really not my cup of tea."
"They really are an acquired taste, aren't they?"
"Yeah, kind of. In the best way possible."
"You don't need to justify it, Hermione. We're a pretty weird bunch. Instead, how about I hang out with you tomorrow? We could catch up and maybe I could even provide you some insights into the essay from some of the things I saw in Egypt."
"It's an essay on Norse runes."
"Oh."
"But I'll still take you up on that offer."
"Great! See you tomorrow."
"Good night Ginny."
"Good night," Ginny replied and turned to climb up to her room. She half expected Lucy and Demelza would be waiting up for her to make sure she wasn't missing. They worried that way. Initially she assumed it was because of Sirius Black being at large, but she suspected there was a bit more to their motives. After all, she did vanish last year and almost died inside the Chamber of Secrets. Either way, she felt glad to know that they cared. It was important for her to remind Hermione that she wasn't alone, even when her best friends were mad at her and that was a task Ginny was more than up to. Hermione was one of her friends, after all.
A/N: This note is going to be a bit or a ramble. One of the difficulties I have had with writing a Hogwarts story outside of Harry's year is finding enough characters to populate the year. There are no other named Ravenclaws that can be reasonably placed in Luna's class in the books, so I needed to fill it with OCs. I had a similar issue with Ginny's class. Excluding Colin Creevey, the only other named characters who could be in the year those that tried out for the Quidditch team (Romilda Vane is two years younger than Harry). Demelza Robins joins the team in HBP and has good synergy with Ginny. Fannon seems to have decided she is in Ginny's year, so I put her in the same class. Vickey Frobisher tried out for Keeper in OotP, so I put her in Ginny's year as well. However, she is involved in Charms club, so likely has friends outside of her year, so I relegated her to a minor role (she is not mentioned in this chapter). Geoffrey Hooper also tried out for keeper in OotP, but he did not try out again even though the position contested by Cormac McLaggen (one year above Harry). Angelina seems to know him, so I assumed that he was in her year. Jack Sloper and Andrew Kirke both joined in OotP to replace Fred and George as beaters, but they were not able to make it onto the team next year. To prevent Ginny's entire year from being Quidditch players, I did not place them in her year. Jimmy Peakes and Ritchie Coote joined in HBP as beaters. Since they did not try out the previous year, they were probably too young. This places them firmly as second or third years.
