Chapter Five – It's Begun

Zoimmertel

Place cauldron over raging fire. On the night of the half moon, place ¼ cup of nettles in and stir counter clockwise eight times, then twice clockwise. Next add in lionfish spines one at a time with a ten-minute period between each one. For one week stir clockwise three times at midnight. After one week, add finely chopped Abyssinian shrivelfig to potion. Mixture should turn tar black and be thick.

Drinker must wait three months before drinking it after potion is completed.

Warning, if drink is taken at wrong time immediate death will occur.

"Ginny." I looked up from my place in the stall in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and closed the ancient book that sat on the dirty floor before shrinking it down to the size of a knut. Looking outside the window I saw the half moon begin to rise up above the horizon.

I have no idea how Luna knew I had come to the bathroom and was upset to say the least. I had been prepared to start the potion today since the potion took so long before it could be used.

Brushing the dust off my bottom I stepped out of the bathroom and came face to face with Luna Lovegood, resident crazy person at Hogwarts. Ever since we battled together in the Ministry of Magic Luna has been spending more time with me, Neville too. Perhaps they believed that we were all tight friends after a near death experience. That or they didn't have any other friends.

Either way a pale girl with long blonde hair and large blue eyes stood in front of me. Her typical radish earrings hung from her ears and drew my attention next to the necklace made of out butterbeer corks. Her wand was settled atop of her left ear and I watched as it teetered when she tilted her head.

"Hello Luna. You called?"

Luna smiled brightly and replied, "I saw you enter the bathroom and you didn't come out for a long it me so I began to worry. Slughorn asked me to tell you that there was going to be another party tonight and he wanted you to attend."

I cringed at the thought that the baboon wanted to talk to me again about the "Chose One" as Harry was being called recently. The bloody newspaper, The Daily Profit, was creating an unnecessary stir and I was tired of being asked to talk constantly about Harry's fight with you-know-who. I knew that I had no choice but to attend this party since Slughorn always made a commotion in class the following day when I didn't come. Thanking Luna for the heads up I waited for the girl to turn a corner before going back into the bathroom.

Instead of hearing nothing but a continuous dripping of water from a broken faucet, loud moans of sorrow ricocheted around the high-ceilinged room. I took one glance around the room and found Moaning Myrtle crying inside a stall. I opened my mouth to comfort her but she instead dived into the toilet and splashed water all over my robes. Letting out a 'humph' I cast a drying spell and then went to the last stall in the room. Locking the door I placed a silencing charm on the tiny area and another spell I had made myself that blocked out the smell that the potion was going to create. After living with the twins you had to find a way to keep the smell of burning clothing and hair from getting inside your room.

Changing my book back to its original size I opened it back to the page I had previously been on. I followed the instructions carefully and continued to check with the book to ensure it was working correctly. Who knew how deadly one mistake could be?

Stirring counter clockwise eight times I noticed that with each circle the liquid inside became thicker and thicker. When I was finally to the two clockwise stirs my arms felt like lead. Wiping the sweat away form my reddened face, I let out a deep breath and looked at my watch to see that I would be late if I didn't hurry.

I added the first lionfish spine and watched the black concrete like substance break down the center. From the crack burst a stream of smoke that quickly rose high into the air and spread around the barrier of the stall. I raised my arm over my mouth to create a filter so the air would be cleaned as it went through my shirt. I took my hand down ten minutes later when the second spine was put in.

I had expected the same thing to happen but instead it began to violently bubble, so high to the top of my cauldron that I feared it would over flow. The black potion's bubbles grew to the size of golf balls before they popped and returned to the rest of the potion below. I was fascinated as the once hard potion became soft and smooth. The ten minutes went by quickly and I happily added the last lionfish spine to the pot. To my disappointment nothing interesting happened this time. I only watched it sit still and waited until I could turn off the fire below and leave for Slughorn's evening event.

As I magically changed my school uniform into a casual dress I walked to Slughorn's office where I heard music blasting from behind the closed door. As my hand went to grasp the handle the door opened and out came Malfoy and Professor Snape, two men in the castle that I was afraid of confronting anytime soon. I stopped and watched as they left the party and entered a room one the end of the hall without noticing me. Casting an invisibility charm that Mad Eye Moody had taught me, I made my way towards the room.

I stopped cold in my tracks when something brushed against me and let out a sigh when I found it was only Harry under his invisibility cloak. Knowing he was doing the same thing as I, I followed towards the room that the two Slytherins had entered and listened in on the conversation.

Harry seemed to want to stay away from the keyhole and instead used extendable ears, one of Fred and George's better ideas. As Harry was unraveling the chord to the ears, I heard a part of the conversation that left me with no doubt that Draco knew I had been in Knockturn Alley.

"She was there and I saw her with my own eyes." Draco's voice seemed to be pleading with his teacher to believe him.

"Why would Mrs. Weasley be there?"

"Doing something dark I would suppose. Maybe she works for Him?"

At the mention of the Dark Lord Snape changed the topic and began once again to ask Draco to tell him what he was doing. Harry heard only this part of the conversation, something I was glad for because I didn't need any questions about that. Having heard enough I moved back from the door and began to leave when I saw Harry pull backwards sharply while gathering the extendable ears. The look of horror on his face was priceless. At that moment I was glad that the spell I was under allowed you to see people hidden under invisibility cloaks.

Out came Draco who was in a surly mood. He marched off towards the dungeons as Snape straightened himself and reentered the party. Deciding that it was necessary that I go in soon I opened the door and entered. Removing the spell I saw Slughorn coming my way and plastered a large smile onto my face.

"Ginny you've finally arrived. I was hoping to have a word with you. I'm guessing that Harry is skipping this one?" He raised his eyebrow and gave me a 'he isn't here is he' look. I just nodded in agreement and pretended to have spotted a friend. Pushing myself into the thick crowd I pushed farther towards the other side to try and get out of the fat man's view.

Sighing to myself I grumbled, "Tonight is going to be a long one."