louey31- Don't worry. I won't quit on you. I hate it when writers do that, especially if it's a good story. Thanks a whole bunch for the review. It means a lot to me.
QueenThayet12990- Yes, you'll find out what worked in this chapter. Just read on. I wanted to read your friend's story, but I couldn't find it. The search wouldn't pull it up. Thanks for always reviewing.
fanfare- Well he has to be a jerk in the beginning because that's who he is. If in the first scene he kneels down to Ginny and declares his love for her, well, that's just silly. I'm trying to keep everybody in character.
Ok people, there's one story I'm reading that I want ya'll to go check it out. It's a LOTR one and it's The Messenger by Rochelle Adams. It's 100 percent original, nothing happens that you think will happen, it's really good, and she updates it liketwice a day.
Disclaimer: No, I don't own this. Of course I don't. Who do you think I am, J.K. Rowling?
Chapter 7: Never Mess with a Malfoy
"…nobody will ever know…" Draco said to himself. Everybody was at dinner, yet Draco wasn't hungry. His plan for revenge had worked perfectly. The two Weasels had found what they needed to, and his plan was falling into place.
"I can't wait until tomorrow. Just wait until Potions class. Then Ron Weasley will learn to never to mess with a Malfoy.
Draco woke the next morning feeling exuberant. This was the day he would complete his revenge. The littlest Weasel had already gotten hers…now it was the big Weasel's turn. Draco smirked to himself. Sometimes, he even amazed himself with his cleverness. Nobody would have ever thought of the revenge plan he had.
He walked down the corridors silently, pondering his revenge. If anybody did happen to figure it out, he'd probably be in trouble. Oh well, Draco thought. He'd get Snape to smooth it out.
That afternoon Draco sat in his last class of the day, Potions. He smirked as he looked over at Potter, Granger, and Weasley. As always, Granger had her head shoved into a book. Potter was setting up his cauldron. With his chin resting on his hand, Weasley was staring off into space. His mouth was open, and a small bit of drool slinked its way out of his mouth. Draco shook his head in disgust, but brightened when he noticed Weasley's hand. Still smiling, Draco turned as Professor Snape strode into the room from his office. This was going to be entertaining.
"Mr. Goyle, collect everybody's essay and come set them on my desk as I set up today's lesson." With a wave of Snape's wand, a blackboard appeared in the air, and Snape started writing on it. Goyle slowly stood up and lumbered around the room, snatching up essays. Draco watched him.
When he got over to the table where the Golden Trio was seated, he paused. Draco couldn't hear what they were saying, but it looked as though Goyle was arguing with them. Then, with a smirk, Goyle moved on, finished collecting the papers, and headed to the front of the class. He set them on Snape's desk as he had been instructed to, and then went to the Professor.
"Professor, Weasley didn't do his homework," Goyle quibbled loudly. The entire class looked up. Ron Weasley's face turned as red as his hair, if not more so.
With a smug look, Snape walked over to their desk. He stared down at Weasley. Oh, this was too good to be true for Draco.
"Why didn't you do the essay I assigned you?" Snape asked in a voice loud enough for the whole room to hear. Many Slytherins were smiling openly and whispering behind their hands.
"Because I was too lazy to." Ron said quickly. A horrified look crossed over his face, and he glanced over at Harry, who looked questioningly back at him. Snape raised his eyebrows.
"Because you were too lazy?" Snape looked incredulous. "Tell me, Mr. Weasley, what was the essay even about?"
"Grimson Tlocklew, who invented the Draught of Death." Weasley recited back while still staring at Snape.
"And why were we studying the Draught of Death, Mr. Weasley?" Snape had an amused look on his face. He appeared to be enjoying Ron's misery just as much as Draco.
"I don't know."
"You don't know, Weasley? Well that's no surprise. However, I do expect you to give me the correct answer. Why were we studying the Draught of Death last week?"
"I don't know. I didn't see any point in it. It's not like we could have tested it on each other, so I don't get why we bothered with it. To use the Draught of Death is illegal; it's almost like an Unforgivable Curse. What's the point of learning it if we can never use it?" Ron said all this very fast.
Snape scowled and leaned down towards Weasley, who shrank back. His expression was just short of absolute terror.
"Because," snarled Snape, "if you know the potion, then you can recognize its symptoms. You will know how to treat it if someone has been poisoned with it." Snape looked disgusted. "Really, Weasley, I knew you unintelligent, but that is pathetic. You should never question a teacher, especially," Snape lowered his voice to a deadly whisper, "me." There was silence for a minute. Ron looked ready to wet himself. Draco would be impressed if he hadn't already.
"Now, about your punishment. Instead of two feet on Tlocklew, you will now write 4 feet, to be handed in to me tomorrow. You will serve a detention with me tonight."
"What for?" asked Ron. Hermione groaned beside him.
"What for? Snape sneered. "For your lack of discipline, for your mouthing off to a teacher, and," Snape smirked, "for being lazy."
Ron looked fit to burst. Standing up, he glared at the Professor.
"You're just an egotistical jerk who's biased against us Gryffindors because we're better than Slytherins, and you're jealous of us because we beat you in everything!" Ron shouted at Snape, whose ears grew red. Draco smiled with glee. His plan was going better than he had hoped.
"Make that five feet and fifty points from Gryffindor. And you will serve a detention with me for the rest of the week for your behavior. I suggest you gain control of yourself unless you wish to be expelled."
Ron, still looking extremely angry and upset, sat back down, glaring at the Potions professor. Grinning from ear to ear, Draco glanced back and forth from Ron to Snape. His plan had gone better than he had thought.
The rest of the day passed in a blur for Draco. After Potions had ended, he had gone up to his room. He looked at the spell book he had checked out from the library. It was what had given him the idea for his revenge. Really, it was quite ingenious. Draco flipped through the pages until he found the right one. At the top of the page were the words Dictum Neg Clin. Under that were the instructions for the spell, which Draco had learned and then performed. Draco thought back to how his revenge had taken place.
He had snuck into Hogsmede after school one afternoon. He had gone into Madame Mally's Jewelry and purchased a small, silver bracelet and a matching ring. That night, he had put the Dictum Neg Clin charm on both pieces of jewelry. He had then placed both the bracelet and the ring in select places in Hogwarts so that each Weasley had found them. He had personally seen Ginny pick up the bracelet; he had been watching her from the shadows. He had just noticed Ron wearing the ring earlier today. Dictum Neg Clin, literally, meant "speak no lies". Though Ginny and Ron Weasley didn't know it, as long as they wore their bracelet and ring, they were forced to tell the absolute truth. The spell would last as long as each person wore the charmed object. Draco smirked. With luck, they would never discover why they couldn't lie.
Ginny woke up very early that morning. She could see through her window that the sun was just starting to rise. Oddly, she didn't feel tired at all. She got up, showered and dressed, and went down into the Gryffindor common room. She was the only there, and the fire was crackling in the grate. She curled up in her favorite armchair and thought about what had happened recently.
She had yelled at Harry because he was going out with another girl. Harry had then apologized and they were still friends. She had overheard Malfoy talking to himself about something working…she had no idea what that was about. Quidditch tryouts were coming up, though Ginny already had a secure position on the team.
Harry wanted the entire team to go down to the Quidditch pitch on Saturday for tryouts. The other Chaser that they still had was Dean Thomas, who had also joined the team last year. The only positions available were the two Beaters and one Chaser. Ginny had heard Parvati and Lavender talking about trying out. Ginny chuckled to herself. Parvati and Lavender were nice enough girls, but they weren't the sporty type. Most likely, their whole plan for playing Quidditch was to get closer to boys. That was what those girls thought of most: boys.
Ginny didn't have much chance to worry over boys except Harry. But her obsession of him had passed. Ginny had only been out on a date twice. The first boy that had asked her out back in her 3rd year had been in Hufflepuff. Ginny had Herbology with them, and she had spoken with him occasionally. He was a nice boy, and when he had asked her out, Ginny had said yes. However, when Ron had found out, he put a firm foot down and told Ginny she had to say no. It was hard for Ginny, but she had done it. The second boy had been Michael Corner in her 4th year. Though Ron had been extremely unhappy about it, he had let her continue going out with him. Most likely Hermione had talked him into it, for which Ginny was forever grateful. It hadn't worked out between them though and their relationship hadn't lasted long, for which Ron was grateful. Since then, no boy had come up to her, and Ginny hadn't bothered herself with worrying about it.
A noise brought her out of her thoughts, and she turned to the boys' dormitory staircase. Harry and Ron appeared on the stairs.
"It's not my fault, Harry!" Ron was almost shouting. He looked very upset about something. "I don't know why I said any of that! Something just came over me and I said that I was too lazy to do that stupid essay. I mean, it was the truth, but I would never say that, especially to Snape!"
"But why did you say all that stuff to him after he had already punished you?" Harry asked incredulously. The two friends sat down on the couch across from Ginny, still debating their situation. "Insulting Snape is not a good thing, Ron."
"I already told you! I couldn't help myself. I was thinking all that, but I wasn't planning on saying it. It just came out." Ron stared down at his hands, and they were silent for a moment. Ginny cleared her throat, resulting in both boys looking at her.
"Um, guys, what are you talking about?" Ginny asked with a curious expression on her face.
"I blew it…" Ron moaned.
"He didn't do the homework Snape gave us, and then when Snape asked him about it, they started yelling at each other. Now Ron has a detention every night for the rest of the week."
"Oh no," Ron said, looking up. "I'm going to miss Quidditch tryouts."
"Oh relax, Ron. You're already on the team," Ginny rationalized. Ron looked slightly placated, though still upset.
"Yeah, Ron. The only thing you need to worry about is Snape murdering you for what you said," Harry said.
"Thanks, Harry. Thanks a lot. It's really comforting to know that you sympathize with me," Ron replied sarcastically. Harry grinned.
"So, I'm hungry," Ron said. "Let's go get some breakfast, Harry. You coming, Ginny?"
"No," Ginny replied, "I think I'm going to wait up for Hermione. You guys go on. I'll see you later." Shrugging, Ron and Harry left.
Ginny sat, puzzled over what her brother had said. He had been forced to tell Snape exactly what he had thought, which was the truth. It sounded like what Ginny had felt like when she had talked to Harry in the library. Maybe it was something more than just coincidence. Ginny thought once more of Malfoy's warning. Had he done something to them? If anybody would know what to do, it was Hermione. Ginny was going to talk to her about it.
After several minutes, Hermione shuffled down the stairs, a book in her hand. She smiled at Ginny, and walked over to her.
"Ron and Harry already went down to breakfast," Ginny said, motioning towards the portrait hole. Hermione nodded.
"Well, do you want to go down? Classes start in a while, and we do need to eat," Hermione opened her book, and idly flipped through the pages.
"Well, I was wondering if I could talk to you about something first." Ginny glanced up at Hermione, who shut her book and looked at Ginny with concern.
"What is it?" Hermione sat down in an armchair across from her friend.
"Oh, it's nothing to worry about," Ginny hurriedly told Hermione, who relaxed. "It's just – well, I think maybe something happened to Ron and me."
"Did you have a fight?"
"No. No, it's nothing like that. I think that maybe we're under some sort of charm." Ginny gave a wry laugh. "It's more like a curse."
Ginny briefly explained what Malfoy had warned them about, and how she had felt when she yelled at Harry. Then she told Hermione what Ron had mentioned to her this morning. Hermione appeared puzzled. When Ginny was done, they both remained silent for several minutes.
Hermione looked at Ginny. "Well, it's possible he could have done something to you. It must be some sort of truth-telling charm. I'll have to do some research about it in the library." Ginny nodded her agreement. "When you're done with classes this afternoon, come meet me in the there," Hermione stood up. "I'll make sure Ron is with us."
Ginny had a hard time concentrating on classes that afternoon. She kept wondering about what was happening to her. There was definitely something wrong. Every time a teacher asked her a question, she was forced into saying the correct answer if she knew it, or admitting that she didn't know.
Grumbling, Ginny huffed her way up the many flights of stairs until she reached the Divination tower. She scuttled to the back of the room and dropped onto a poof. If Professor Trelawney called on her today, things could get slightly embarrassing. Trelawney always had a habit of foreseeing the worst-case-scenarios for her students. She seemed to relish the thought of danger.
Halfway through class, Ginny relaxed. It appeared that today the Divination teacher was in a mood for talking. At the moment, she was flailing her arms and shouting about how seeing an Albanian mud beetle three nights before a big event in someone's life resulted in a death in the family. Ginny thought the teacher was completely off her rocker, as did her brother. Hopefully, the rest of the class would pass smoothly and quietly. However, Ginny's luck did not hold.
"You! Ginny! Come up here, please." Groaning, Ginny shuffled to the front of the class. Professor Trelawney had that look in her eye. A mad glint always appeared before she "predicted" a student's death.
"When were you born?" Trelawney asked abruptly.
"In April," Ginny replied. What was Trelawney going to predict this time?
"Before or after the full moon?"
Ginny gave her professor a blank stare.
Trelawney shook her head and pushed her glasses back up her nose. "What day in April?"
"The twenty-first," replied Ginny. Trelawney put her hand on her chin and stared down into a cup full of tea. After almost a minute of staring at it, she reached down and grabbed it. She handed the cup to Ginny.
"Drink all of the tea. When you are finished, tell me what you see in the bottom of the cup."
Sighing, Ginny put her mouth up to the cup. She wrinkled her nose; the tea smelled like sweaty socks. In a few gulps, Ginny drank all the tea. Staring into the bottom of the cup, the only thing Ginny saw was a soggy mass of tea leaves.
"Well, what do you see?" asked an excited Trelawney. Her eyes seemed even bigger than normal.
"Um…tea leaves?" Ginny looked questioningly at her teacher. Trelawney rolled her eyes, something Ginny wasn't accustomed to seeing her do.
"Of course there are tea leaves in there! What did you expect, rocks? What do the leaves look like?" Trelawney seemed exasperated.
Ginny looked at her tea leaves again. From the angle she was looking at, the leaves appeared nothing more than a dark, lumpy bunch of leaves. She turned the cup the other way to get a better view at it. Still, she saw nothing. After squinting at it for a few seconds, she looked up with raised eyebrows and shook her head at Trelawney.
"I don't see anything in here." Ginny watched her professor. Trelawney sighed with a knowing look on her face. It was almost as if she pitied Ginny.
"Well let me see it then." Ginny handed over the cup. Trelawney studied it shortly, and then a grave look passed over her face. "My dear," Trelawney gasped, looking up at Ginny. "Oh, oh my goodness." The cup trembled in her hands.
"Let me guess, it's the Grim, isn't it." Ginny partly mocked. Half the kids in her class had already "seen" the Grim in their tea cups. Ginny sighed.
"No. No, it's much worse than that," Trelawney said with wide eyes. "Much, much worse than that. It's the Trold." Luna gasped somewhere from behind Ginny. She was the only one who gave any recognition of the name.
Skeptical, Ginny asked, "The what?"
Professor Trelawney looked disbelievingly at her. "The Trold, my dear. The Trold." After receiving nothing but a blank look from Ginny, she asked, "Have you never heard of the Trold?" Ginny shook her head.
"The Trold, my dear, is an omen that appears in the form of a raven, which is what is in your cup. It is a sign of a change."
"Well that doesn't sound too bad," Ginny replied truthfully.
"Normally, no, it doesn't. But the Trold has a history of violent changes. One man, Gregory Rorran - aw, that poor man! He was the first to see the Trold. About a year afterwards he lost his job, his wife left him, and his eleven year old daughter tried to kill him because of it. She didn't succeed, however, because Gregory killed himself first. He blamed all his misfortune on the Trold. It consumed him." The room was deathly silent. Trelawney loved this sort of drama.
"Then, twenty years ago, a young boy- fifteen years old, I think he was -saw a Trold. He said it appeared to him in a dream. Almost immediately afterward, the boy became a Death Eater. He ended up killing his parents. But on one mission he failed, and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named killed him. He killed him personally."
There was a slight lump deep in Ginny's stomach. She didn't know whether to believe these stories or not. If she did, what was going to happen? So far, both of these people had died; apparently, it seemed, because of the Trold.
Trelawney was eyeing Ginny with relish. Ginny caught her professor studying her face, and tossed aside her trepidation. She wouldn't let Sybill Trelawney get the better of her. Actually, Ginny should be thankful. So far, her teacher hadn't asked any personal questions. That was the last thing she needed.
Ginny and Trelawney stared at each other for a minute. Trelawney seemed to be waiting for some sort of reaction out of Ginny. When she didn't get one, she huffed and waved her arm, letting Ginny know she was free to return to her seat. Relieved, she sat down.
"Now, I have a few questions I need you to answer here. It's for an upcoming test, and I need to know something about yourself for it. Each assignment will be different. Once you complete it, you may go." Trelawney started handing out sheets of paper for everybody. Know something about us? Ginny thought incredulously. I thought she was physic…
A sheet of paper was passed to Ginny, and she looked at it reluctantly. Surprisingly, there were only two questions.
1. What is your life goal?
2. What one thing in your life do you wish you could change?
Ginny thought. What was her life goal? She shrugged and wrote To be loved. That made sense to her. Her family and friends were everything to her. One day she hoped to find a man who would treat her right and to have a family with him. Love would be what held it all together. And it has to be true, Ginny thought. I can't lie right now. She looked at question two. What did she want to change? Well, there were lots of things that she wished were different. She wished her family wasn't so poor and that she could have clothes that fit her properly, but she wasn't about to write that down for Professor Trelawney to read. Ginny thought for a few minutes before coming up with an answer that she was happy with. I wish that I didn't fear anything. If Ginny was never afraid of anything, life would be so much easier. After she walked to the front of the class and handed her completed sheet to Trelawney, she turned and left the room.
Later, Ginny met Hermione in the library. Ron was with her. As she walked up to them, she heard Hermione talking to Ron, who had an angry look on his face.
"So you mean to tell me that Malfoy cursed us?" Ron looked stunned yet irate at the same time.
"Yes, I think he did," Both Ron and Hermione turned and looked at Ginny as she sat down next to him. "So, did anything happen today with you, Ron? Get into anymore trouble?"
"No…" mumbled Ron. "You?"
"Thankfully not. I thought something might happen in Divination, but it didn't. Where's Harry?" Ginny looked around. Usually Harry and Ron were together. Inseparable. Like brothers. Not that Ron needed anymore brothers…
"He's with Jenny," Hermione said, and Ginny nodded understandingly. Surprisingly she felt no sadness at the thought of Harry with another girl. Only an empty space.
"So," said Hermione, looking excited. "We've already found some books that might help figure out whatever this is. I have some theories, but I need to do some research first. Both of you, grab a book and start reading."
Ginny and Ron both picked up a book. Ginny's was called The Pros and Cons of Truth-telling. After reading the entire book, she tossed it onto the table in disgust. It had mentioned nothing about jinxes that force someone to tell only truth.
Hours later, only Hermione had found something.
"It says here," said Hermione, reading aloud from her book, entitled The Art of Jinxing, "that people under this particular jinx are forced to tell the entire truth or nature of something. The only way to tell if the jinx is cast upon somebody is to cast this anti-curse on them." She looked up, eyes bright. "Well, who wants to go first?"
Ron and Ginny looked at each other quizzically. "Go first for what?"
"I'll just put this spell on you, and if you're not under any curses, than you'll glow green. It you are, you'll glow red." Hermione looked eager.
"Well, it's worth a shot," Ron said. "Try me first."
Ron stood, and after a moment, Hermione pointed her wand at Ron and said, "Hurenesca". Briefly, Ron stayed the same. Then his entire body shimmered with a green light. After glowing brighter, the light disappeared.
"Well, nothing happened," Ron said, tossing his hands into the air. A glimmer of light caught Ginny's attention.
"Ron," Ginny puzzled, "what's on your hand?"
Ron looked down at his hand, and then a small flush crept up his neck. He smiled somewhat sheepishly down at his sister.
"I found a ring the other day. I don't know, I thought I might be able to sell it or something."
"Let me see it," Ginny said. Ron took off his new ring and handed it to her. Ginny stared at it. It was a thin silver band, and carved into its exterior were tiny stars. It really was beautiful. Not the sort of ring a boy should wear. But what intrigued Ginny was that it matched her bracelet exactly. Rolling up her sleeves, she unclasped the bracelet from her wrist and held out both objects, looking up at Ron and Hermione.
"I haven't seen that before, Ginny," Hermione pointed towards her bracelet.
"Probably because I just found it, too."
"You found it?" Hermione looked bewildered. Ginny nodded. They stared at each other momentarily and then they both smiled knowingly. Ron looked back and forth between the two.
"What is it?"
"Don't you see, Ron?" Hermione snatched both the bracelet and the ring from Ginny's still outstretched hands. "These pieces of jewelry are what are causing all this. Look at them. They're obviously of the same design. And you both found them. Malfoy probably charmed them and placed them somewhere for you to find." Ron stared at his ring.
"But I just thought it was some dumb ring."
"No," Ginny said, and then paused. "How old are you?"
"What?" Ron looked confused. "You know how old I am, Ginny. Don't be daft…"
"No, Ron," continued Hermione. "Lie. Say something that's not true. You're not wearing the ring. Ginny, you too."
"I'm three years old," Ron said at the same time Ginny said "My hair is black."
All three teenagers smiled at each other.
"Hey!" Ron shouted. "You're right. We can talk again." Ron started saying all sorts of things that weren't true, and Ginny looked happily at the bracelet. It really was a shame something so pretty had to be cursed.
"Hermione, is there a way to take the charm off of this bracelet?"
"I don't know. I don't even know what charm is on there in the first place. If I knew, then maybe. But why do you want it? It's from Malfoy."
"I know that," Ginny replied. "But it's just so pretty." She gazed again at the tiny stars that were twinkling brightly. She had never owned anything so delicate and beautiful.
Just then, none other than Draco Malfoy shuffled into the library. He saw the three of them, smirked, and then saw the bracelet and ring they had. Then he smirked even broader. He strode over to them.
"Nice jewelry you got there, Weasley. What, you thinking pawning it off? Going to get some money, are you? You could use it." Malfoy laughed at them, and smirked once more.
"You," Ron growled, stepping towards him. Hermione and Ginny pulled him back. The ring and bracelet now lay on the table. "You cursed us!" Ron spat at Draco. "You got me a weeks worth of detention! I'll kill you," he stretched his hands as far as he could towards Malfoy, but Ginny and Hermione were steadily pulling him back.
"Just drop it, Ron," Hermione said. Ron still fought to get away though. Laughing, Malfoy stepped around Ron and snatched the ring and bracelet off the table.
"I'll just be taking these then, since they're mine. It really was a good idea," Malfoy gazed at the jewelry. "Maybe next time I'll put another curse on them, so that you won't be able to take them off." He sneered. "It sure was fun watching you make a fool of yourself in Potions today." Malfoy started walking off. "Thanks for the entertainment today, Weasel."
With a mock solute, Draco Malfoy sauntered out of the library. As he was walking out, he tossed a book onto Madame Pince's desk. Only after he was out of sight did Hermione and Ginny let go of Ron.
"Why did you do that?" Ron's red face looked menacing. "You should've let me pound him to a pulp." He rubbed his knuckles together.
"Ron," Hermione rolled her eyes. "We are Head Boy and Head Girl. We can do anything we want to him. We'll give him a detention and take some points away. You'll end up being the one getting in trouble if you hit him. You don't need any more trouble."
Ginny only half-listened to Hermione. She was happy she wasn't under any jinxes any longer, but she was going to miss the bracelet. It had been so pretty.
That night in the common room, Ginny glanced over at Harry. He was sitting next to the fireplace reading a Potions book. Hermione was scribbling something down on parchment. Ron was at his detention with Snape. She sighed.
At dinner that night, all four of them had gone over to the Slytherin table. They had a note from Professor McGonagall for Draco. They had gone to her and explained what he had done. Though something in McGonagall's eyes had shown a bit of amusement, she had given Draco a week's worth of detention since that was how much he had gotten for Ron. He had lost fifty points from Slytherin as well. Fair is fair, she had said to them.
Ginny looked out the window. The stars were twinkling brightly, and there was a full moon. At that moment, all seemed right with the world.
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A/N: Ok, I made up the Albanian mud beetle; it doesn't exist. If by some wild chance it does, then don't sue me.
Lauren
