Sorry for the really long wait, but I had zero time to get on the computer. I'd get on, write for about 10 minutes, then have to get off. But I gave you guys a really really really really really long chapter. It's 23 whole pages! And 10,602 words! Lol you better enjoy it!
Dislcamer: I can't come up with any original dislcaimers, so let's just say that I don't own this, alright?
Chapter 19: Dates
Two days of the punishment had passed. Thankfully, few serious incidents had occurred because of it. Ginny and Blaise had stuck to being silent around each other and staying in the library after classes. Sometimes Ron, Harry, or the other Gryffindors would be in there with their partner, but usually they were outside or somewhere else in the castle.
That Friday evening, Ginny was sitting upstairs on her bed with Hermione, who had been in Ginny's dorm trying to talk her into going to the ball all night long. Ginny was putting up a decent fight.
"Oh come on, Ginny," Hermione coaxed, sitting on the red-haired, Gryffindor girl's bed. "You have to go to the ball; it'll be fun!"
"Oh no it won't, Hermione," Ginny moaned, sitting on the bed. "It'll just be a way to embarrass myself even more in front of the school." Ginny flopped backwards on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "Besides," Ginny continued, "Har—nobody's asked me to go yet and there's absolutely no point in me going alone to just stand there and be a wallflower all night. Nope, I won't do it." Ginny shook her head resolutely.
"Yes you will, Ginny," Hermione said, her tone becoming more serious. "You need to have some fun and this will be just the way."
"Hermione," Ginny said, sitting up and looking at her friend, "I've made up my mind. And besides," she added with a slight pout, "I have fun."
"Oh yeah?" Hermione said, raising her eyebrows. She folded her arms across her chest. "When was the last time you did something fun?"
Ginny rolled her eyes and combed through her mind to find the last time she had had fun. Surprisingly, precious few memories turned up. "When I played Quidditch," Ginny settled for saying.
"Ginny," Hermione said exasperatedly, "don't you remember how that turned out? You were in the Hospital Wing for-"
"Not that time," Ginny said hurriedly. "The time where we played a real game was fun."
"Sports don't count," Hermione said.
"Well I don't care," Ginny persisted. "I don't have a dress or anything. And, most importantly, I don't have a date. There's no point in going without one."
"But Ginny you have to go," Hermione said. If Ginny wasn't mistaken, she detected a bit of urgency in her friend's voice. Ginny gazed at Hermione suspiciously.
"Why is it so important that I go? And since when did you become so interested in dances, Hermione?" she asked carefully. Hermione stood shiftily and her back straightened. Her fingers nervously started playing with the hem of her shirt and a small smile formed on her face. "Hermione," Ginny said playfully, standing up and walking towards her friend. "What are you not telling me?"
Hermione backed away slightly. "Did someone ask you to the ball?" Ginny asked, her own eyes lighting up. A deep blush crept up Hermione's cheeks and she looked at the floor. "They did, didn't they!" Ginny cried triumphantly.
"Yes," Hermione nodded. She looked up and a huge smile was on her face. In fact, Ginny only saw Hermione this happy when she scored well on a test.
"And why didn't you tell me so earlier?" Ginny demanded like a mother scolding her child. "Well come on, spill everything! Who is he? What House is he in? How old is he? What's he like?"
"Slow down, Ginny," Hermione said, laughing. "I'll tell you everything."
The two girls sat down on Ginny's bed and the redhead settled back in her pillows, glad the attention was off of her going to the ball. She was also happy that Hermione had snagged a date.
"Well he's a seventh year and he's been in my Ancient Runes class for over a year now," Hermione began excitedly. Ginny smiled and stared at her friend in awe; she had never seen Hermione so worked up over a guy before. A brief image of Lavendar Brown and Parvati Patil giggling over guys jumped into her mind but she pushed it aside. "And he's ever so smart, Ginny, he really is," Hermione continued. That's the Hermione I know, Ginny thought. If a guy's got brains, Hermione's attracted to him.
"And his name is…?" Ginny prodded her friend, motioning with her hands for her to continue.
"Oh," Hermione said, blushing slightly again. "Ewan. His name is Ewan Swestan and he's in Ravenclaw." Hermione beamed and continue. "Occasionally we'd talk before or after class and I've always admired the work he does, but just last week we were in the library and he asked me to go to the ball with him, so I said yes."
"I take it you like this guy," Ginny said, watching as Hermione sat with one of Ginny's pillows in her lap. "You sure seem happy."
"Oh I am, Ginny," Hermione said. "I've never actually paid much attention to guys because I was always studying, but now I've found one that likes to work just as much as me!"
"What does he look like?" Ginny asked. She reached for a comb that was sitting on her nightstand and started brushing her hair.
"Well he has the bluest eyes I've ever seen," Hermione said, staring off into space, "and his hair is light brown. It's perfectly straight and it goes just past his ears…" she trailed off, staring into the air. A soft sigh escaped her lips and Ginny tried to stifle her giggles. Hermione was acting very girly, something Ginny wasn't too used to seeing out of her.
"He sounds handsome," Ginny said smugly.
"Very handsome," Hermione said, snapping out of her trance. "But it's not just his looks that I like. He's really smart too! I never thought I'd find a guy that enjoys work as much as me."
"Well there's another Hogsmede trip in two weeks," Ginny said. "We'll go shopping for your dress then."
"Yes," said Hermione, "and we can pick yours out as well because you're coming too."
"Not this again, Hermione," groaned Ginny. "I'll just stay up here and…do homework or something. Besides," she added with a shrug, "I've never been a big dancer before. If I went I'd probably just embarrass myself."
"You're going and that's final," Hermione said firmly. "There's no point in arguing with me Ginny. You're going," Hermione finished matter-of-factly.
"Do I really have to?" Ginny asked, resignation heavy in her voice.
"Yes."
Ginny sighed. "Fine. We can plan on me going only if someone asks me."
"They will," Hermione said, a twinkle in her eye and a small smirk forming on her lips. Ginny was suspicious at once.
"What do you know, Hermione?" she asked, rising to her knees. "Tell me."
"No," Hermione said, now forcefully trying to stop her smile. "I promised I wouldn't."
"Wouldn't what?" Ginny asked desperately. "You promised you wouldn't what?"
"Nope, sorry, Gin," Hermione said. "I can't tell you."
"Is somebody asking about me?" Ginny asked. "Please, Hermione. I have to know."
"Well…" Hermione trailed off uncertainly. "I can tell you that you certainly won't be a wallflower at the dance, Ginny. That's all I'm going to say."
Ginny sat back down and shook her head. "You're killing me, Hermione. You're really killing me."
Hermione laughed and stood up. "Don't worry. He'll be asking soon." She started heading for the door.
"When do we get to meet this new boyfriend of yours?" Ginny asked as Hermione's hand turned the door knob.
"Soon enough," Hermione answered. "And he's not my boyfriend, Ginny." Ginny rolled her eyes. Hermione was halfway out the door when she popped her head back in. "And Ginny?" she asked. Ginny looked expectantly at her. "Don't tell Ron or Harry about Ewan yet, will you?"
"They don't know?" Ginny asked incredulously.
"Remember at the Yule Ball?" Hermione asked. "They didn't know I was going with Victor until they were so desperate to get a date that they asked me themselves. I'll tell them, but I want to be the one to do it."
"Okay," Ginny said. When Hermione left, Ginny frowned and tried to figure out just who was going to ask her to the dance. Her first thought was of Harry. Aw, I'm not lucky enough for that, thought Ginny. Perhaps it wasn't even someone she knew. Maybe it was one of Ewan's friends or something. It could be anybody.
Ginny went to sleep that night, her mind racing with the possibilities of her mysterious admirer.
The next morning, Ginny woke bright and early. Instead of trying to fall back asleep like she normally would do on a Saturday morning, she sat up excitedly. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff had their first Quidditch match this morning, yet that wasn't what she was excited about. Hermione's words echoed through her mind. He'll be asking soon.
Ginny ferociously played through her list of suspects once more while she took a shower. She did it again as she got dressed. Even as she left Gryffindor House and walked down to breakfast, she kept thinking of who it could be.
As she entered the Great Hall, she glanced around suspiciously, almost as if her mystery guy would be wearing a big sign that said "I'm right here!" The only people in the Great Hall, however, were the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff teams. This still posed a moment of happiness for Ginny; she'd be able to eat a meal without any Slytherins nearby.
Ginny sat at the large, empty Gryffindor table and helped herself to a stack of pancakes. She chewed the fluffy cakes in silence, trying to enjoy her one moment of peace. Today was a weekend and she'd have no rest from Blaise Zabini all day…no classes in which to escape him. It's going to be a long day, she thought.
An hour later, Ginny was standing in the Quidditch stadium, jumping up and down and cheering as the Ravenclaw team scored its fourth goal of the game. She figured if Hermione was going to be going out with a Ravenclaw, she might as well start cheering for their team. That is, until she played them; then it was a whole other story.
"Would you stop it?" Blaise said irritably from her side. Ginny only jumped higher and screamed louder. "Honestly, Weasley, if you scream one more time I'm going to hit you," Blaise growled. "I don't care if you're a girl; you're going to blow out my bloody ear drum." He rubbed his ear for emphasis. Ginny only stuck out her tongue at him. "That's really immature, you know," he grumbled.
"Oh, and pulling my hair isn't?" she questioned angrily.
"That was during Quidditch and that's different," he countered.
"Well this is during Quidditch too," Ginny stated innocently. She screamed again as one of Ravenclaw's Chasers stole the ball from Hufflepuff.
"I'm warning you, Weasley," Blaise growled.
"Shove off, Zabini," came a male voice from behind them. Ginny turned and saw Colin Creevey and Warren Quinn shuffle their way through the crowds of excited fans over to where Ginny and Blaise were standing. Grateful for somebody other than Blaise to talk to, Ginny smiled at Colin; Warren moved away with Blaise and the two stared moodily at the Gryffindors.
"How's it going, Ginny?" Colin asked.
"You mean aside the fact that we're being forced to be with Slytherins?" Ginny asked, smiling.
"Honestly, Dumbledore sure picked out a heck of a punishment this time," Colin said; Ginny nodded. "Only four more days though. Where's Ron?" she asked after a moment.
"He's with the rest of our team," Colin said. "They all got dragged to the Slytherin stands. Actually, I'm surprised we didn't too."
"I guess we're just lucky," Ginny said. She grabbed the pair of omnioculars she had borrowed from Harry and looked at the other end of the pitch. Sure enough, Harry and Ron were standing next to each other with sour looks on their faces. All around them were Slytherins; she saw three other specks of red and gold amongst the silver and green and quickly spotted Dean, Seamus, and Dennis. She felt sorry for them.
A roaring from the Ravenclaw stands caused Ginny to stop looking through the omnioculars and focus on the game. The Ravenclaw Seeker had just gone into a dive. She held her breath anxiously but let it out as the girl came out of a dive with the winged ball in her hand. She never could remember the girl who had replaced Cho Chang as Seeker for Ravenclaw, but she seemed to be pretty good. Ginny high-fived Colin as Blaise grumbled.
That evening, Ginny and Colin, along with Blaise Zabini and Warren Quinn, walked into the Great Hall for dinner. They had just returned from a rather savage snowball fight outside. With her hair sparkling silver with streaks of green in it, Ginny grinned from ear to ear. Beside her, Colin walked with his forest green hair wet with snow. Blaise Zabini, on her right, was desperately trying to rub his vibrantly red hair back to black. On Colin's other side was Warren, whose hair was an even mix of shimmering gold and red. After the Quidditch game had ended, the four had decided to go to the library. Ginny was just glad that she had a friend with her, one who had a little more control rather than Harry or Ron. They had been studying for nearly all afternoon when Ginny suggested that they go outside. It seemed that she wasn't the only one sick of the library because Blaise and Warren agreed with little argument. When they had gotten outside, Ginny had pulled Colin aside and whispered for them to attack Blaise and Warren from behind with snowballs. Feeling rebellious at the moment, Colin agreed. Ginny had thought that they would catch the Slytherins off guard, but it seemed that they had a similar plan. At almost the same time, they spun around and shot snowballs at Ginny and Colin who quickly retaliated. The result had been one of the fiercest snowball fights Ginny had ever had.
Also one of the dirtiest…and Ginny wasn't talking about mud.
Halfway through their snowball fight, Blaise and Warren had decided to bewitch the snowballs so that they wouldn't miss; the balls flew through the air until they hit their target. It didn't matter if Ginny or Colin ran from them; the balls would always hit. So then Colin had quickly come up with an even cleverer idea. Ginny and Colin charmed their snowballs so that they were the Gryffindor colors, red and gold. Upon splattering the Slytherins, the snowballs would explode in red and gold dye, staining the Slytherins' clothes and hair. The result had been quite hilarious.
Furious with them, Warren and Blaise had then placed a similar charm on their snowballs. Instead of red and gold, however, the colors were green and silver. Added with the jinx that wouldn't let the snowballs miss, Ginny and Colin were hit every time. Where the Slytherins had been able to avoid some of Ginny and Colin's snowballs, the Gryffindors themselves were pelted again and again. Then they had decided to place the same charm on their snowballs that wouldn't allow them to miss either.
The game had continued in that fashion, with each side coming up with more and more jinxes and hexes to place on their snowballs. When Colin had sent his gold snowball soaring straight into Warren's mouth, the furious Slytherin had rushed at him and tackled him into the ground. Warren had pushed Colin's face into the snow shouting "Who's the pygmy puff now?" until finally Hagrid had approached and separated them all. Well, not exactly separated; the four were punished and had to stay together after all. It was after Hagrid had separated them that Ginny had realized that half of the school was watching them in amusement. With the adrenaline still running through her, Ginny had raised her arms in the air and pumped them a few times. This resulted in all of the Gryffindors present to start cheering and clapping. The Slytherins themselves booed and hissed while cheering for Blaise and Warren.
Self-consciously, Ginny combed her fingers through her hair which was now in many knots. Colin and she had tried to change the color back but had so far been unsuccessful. The only up-side to the situation was that Warren and Blaise had colored hair as well. Oh well, thought Ginny. I'll just ask Hermione what to do during dinner. She knows everything.
However, Ginny never got the opportunity to ask Hermione during dinner. As soon as they entered the Great Hall, both Blaise and Warren steered straight for the Slytherin table. Many students, those who had not been watching them outside, were already seated. Whispers and laughs broke out as they saw the hair of the four students. The ones that had been outside quickly took seats at their own tables and immediately started spreading the word of what had taken place on the grounds. Ginny didn't know whether to blush or be proud. On one hand, she was terribly embarrassed that her hair was silver and green; she felt like a traitor in a way. On the other hand, she was proud of herself and Colin for coming up with the idea and jinxing the Slytherins first.
"Why are we sitting at your table?" Ginny hissed at Blaise.
"We had to watch the game from the Gryffindor stands; I see no reason why you shouldn't eat at our table," Blaise reasoned. Though Ginny desperately wanted to sit with her fellow Gryffindors, she feared Blaise was right. Lately they had been able to sit at the Gryffindor table and she thought that if she refused to sit with the Slytherins, a professor would get dragged into the ordeal and would force them to sit there anyway. As of yet, Ginny had only to eat about four meals at the Slytherin table; each had been an excruciating ordeal.
Ginny sat down and thankfully, Colin sat next to her; their partners sat on their other sides. Ginny glanced over at the Gryffindor table miserably and saw that each of her other teammates were sitting there. Ron, as well as Harry, Seamus, Dean, Dennis, Hermione, and her other friends, was eyeing her hair questioningly but she just shook her head at all of them. She could see the pity in their eyes; she and Colin were the only Gryffindors sitting with the Slytherins.
"Well if it isn't the little Miss Weasley," came a girly, sneering voice from above. Ginny looked up and saw Pansy Parkinson, the pug-faced girl with a crush on Draco Malfoy, come sauntering over. The seventh year Slytherin girl, flanked by some of her friends, took a seat directly across from Ginny and tucked her cropped black hair behind her ears.
"And if it isn't Miss Sasquatch," Ginny said with a knowing grin on her face. Pansy's green eyes narrowed dangerously and her face lost all looks of amusement.
"You better watch your mouth," she said. Her fellow Slytherin girlfriends, a bunch that were wearing very revealing black and silver outfits and too much makeup, glared at Ginny. She glanced once at Colin, who shook his head. Ginny decided it would be best not to provoke any of them too much at the moment; surrounded by angry Slytherins, Ginny didn't think it wise to start any sort of fight.
So Ginny settled for shrugging her shoulders and ignoring the girl with a pug face in front of her. She took a small helping of a cold dish that she didn't recognize and put it on her plate. As she raised a forkful of it to her mouth, she paused to sniff it. A revolting odor that reminded her of Ron's dirty socks filled her nostrils and she dropped the fork back on her plate. She no longer felt very hungry.
"You people eat this garbage?" she asked, directing her question at Pansy. Blaise's head slightly turned towards her as if he was listening but didn't want to let on that he was. Pansy's nostrils flared as she let out heavy breath.
"Look, Miss Priss," she stated heatedly, "don't you come waltzing over here like you own the place and start insulting us." She leaned forward and said more quietly, "I can make your life more miserable than you'd expect. Besides," she continued in a normal voice, "you should be glad for any sort of food." Her eyes moved sideways to look at her friends, capturing their attention. "I hear that at your house," she said with an arrogant look on her pale face, "your whole family has to share one meal just because there isn't enough money for everybody to eat."
Ginny's mouth clenched and her hands balled into fists under the table. "Ginny, don't-" Colin started from her side. Ginny wouldn't listen though. She could take insults about herself, but when somebody talked about her family, especially her parents…well, she couldn't take that.
"At least I don't sleep, around, unlike…some," Ginny said in a quiet voice, her eyes never leaving Pansy's. The two girls stared at each other for a few minutes; the Slytherins around them, as well as Colin, were watching them apprehensively. She distinctly heard Blaise mutter "Catfight," next to her, and she heard Colin sigh, but she really didn't care at the moment.
Ginny could see that Pansy's teeth were grinding in anger and she saw a tiny vein on her neck twitch. Then, calmly, Pansy reached into her robe and pulled out a shiny black wand. She twirled it in her fingers absently a few times and sighed as she eyed it. Then she glanced up sharply at Ginny.
"Do you know what I could do with this, Weasley?" she asked in a soft whisper. Ginny stared back at her, her brown eyes glowing with anger.
"Yeah," Ginny started, "you can stick it right up your-"
"Ginny!" Colin said harshly, clapping his hand over her mouth. Ginny grunted and then glared at Colin out of the corner of her eyes.
"What?" she asked him. Colin just shook his head and leaned forwards, whispering so that only Ginny could hear him.
"Please don't start anymore fights right now," he said quietly. "We are surrounded by Slytherins and I really don't think it would be so smart to anger them right now."
"Relax, Colin," Ginny whispered back. "There are teachers all over the place. Nobody would dare try anything right now."
"Oh yeah?" Colin whispered furiously. "Well right now, I'd say Parkinson doesn't really look like she cares about the teachers."
Ginny glanced across the table and noticed that indeed, Colin was right. Actually, Ginny wouldn't have been surprised to steam come out of Pansy's ears. At the moment, she was looking mad enough to kill. Her eyes were boring holes into Ginny's head and her fingers were twitching around her wand, almost as if she would love nothing more than to curse Ginny into oblivion.
"Fine," Ginny said in resignation. Then she raised the volume of her voice back to normal so that Pansy could hear her. "I'll leave poor Parkinson alone."
"You'll be glad you didn't mess with me, Weasley," Pansy sniffed. "If anybody hurt me, my Draco, my one true love, would kill them."
Ginny couldn't resist one last poke at the Slytherin girl who, if possible, may have been more conceited than Draco Malfoy himself.
"Your Draco?" Ginny asked, grinning. "Your Draco. Please, Parkinson, everybody in the whole school knows that he can't stand you," Ginny said, struggling not to laugh. If Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy were in love, then Ginny was the tooth fairy. "You're just a fly in his face, a thorn in his side, a rock in his shoe. Wake up and smell the pumpkin juice!" Ginny exclaimed, clapping her hands in front of Pansy's face, which was steadily growing redder. Whether it was from embarrassment, anger, or something else, Ginny didn't know. What she did know, though, was that in any second, a certain Pansy Parkinson was about to explode.
"Why you little," Pansy said, her eyes widening. She stood up and started to raise her wand to curse Ginny, who was pulling out her own wand, when Blaise stood up and intervened.
"That's enough, Parkinson," he said sternly, his eyes dark and threatening. Pansy glanced at him and looked back at Ginny; it was obvious that she was struggling between cursing Ginny or not. Obviously her fear of Blaise Zabini was the stronger emotion because she settled for sitting down stiffly.
"Though I hate to say it," Blaise continued, "Weasley is right. Draco can't stand you, Pansy," he concluded, retaking his seat. Ginny, trying furiously to hide her smile, which she didn't know what it was doing there in the first place, noticed that many of her Gryffindor friends were watching the episode at the Slytherin table cautiously. She even saw Ron halfway out of his seat, concern flashing across his face, but she smiled at him and he seemed to get the message that everything was okay, because he sat down once again; he watched what was going on carefully though. "Besides," continued Blaise, "I don't need you two getting me in anymore trouble." He lazily forked through the items on his plate, clearly not interested in them.
"You're all just jealous," Pansy sniffed, running her hands through her shiny hair. "Draco loves me; I know he does."
Ginny resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
Squished between Potter and Crabbe, Draco eyed the confrontation that seemed to have arisen between Pansy and Ginny. When Pansy leapt from her seat and raised her wand to curse Ginny, Blaise had thankfully intervened. Though Draco would rather see Pansy the prat get cursed, he didn't want anybody getting into trouble. Trouble always seemed to find a way to trace itself back to him.
While trying to eat some treacle tart, Draco had to put up with the nearby Gryffindors mutter about Pansy Parkinson and about what she and Ginny were fighting about. At one point, Ron even started to go over there to see if his sister was alright, but he had sat back down. Though Draco was mightily curious why Ginny, Blaise, Warren, and that twerp Colin had strangely colored hair, he would never show his interest. He'd just wait until that night when he could talk to Blaise himself and find out what had gone on.
After Ginny had finished eating, she sat at the table and waited…and waited…and waited some more. It seemed as if Blaise would never get done talking and eating. Occasionally he'd lift a forkful of food to his mouth, eat it, and then he'd talk for about fifteen minutes to whoever was on his other side before taking another bite. Ginny could perform a repeat of the first meal she had eaten with him, but she figured it would be best not to do that. She was surrounded by Slytherins and had already almost been cursed once. So she settled for resting her hand in her head and turning away from Blaise; talking to Colin would be much better. That was when she noticed Colin's hair, which was still a very dark green. Shocked that she had forgotten her own hair-color change, Ginny grabbed some of her hair and pulled it in front of her face. Most of her once-red hair was now very silver; every few inches or so there'd be streaks of green running through it. Ginny sighed, depressed. How was she ever going to get her hair back to normal?
Hermione! Ginny thought. I forgot about Hermione! Ginny glanced around, wondering if the teachers would let her go to the Gryffindor table momentarily. Hesitatingly she looked back and forth between Hermione, who was now reading a book, and the head table. The teachers seemed rather absorbed in their conversations with each other, so Ginny decided she'd risk it.
Ginny cautiously rose out of her seat. "What are you-" started Colin.
"Ssh," Ginny said quietly. With one last look at the head table, she dashed across the room and scooted to a stop at the Gryffindor table. She pushed aside a young first year girl, whom Hermione had been sitting next to, and ducked down in the seat, hoping to stay hidden from Professor McGonagall's hawk-like stare.
"What are you doing, Ginny?" Hermione asked, gazing at the girl from over the top of her book. "You know you're not supposed to be over here."
"I know that, Hermione," Ginny whispered back. "But I need you to change my hair back to its normal color."
Hermione sighed and looked up at the head table. So far it didn't seem like anybody had noticed Ginny gone. "What happened to it?" she asked.
"It got hit with a Jarynxia charm. Silver and green," Ginny replied. "The normal counter spell doesn't seem to be working on it though," Ginny said, wrinkling her brows. "Please, Hermione. I can't stand my hair this way!"
"Oh alright," Hermione gave in. She pulled out her wand and raised it towards Ginny's head. Before saying anything though, she paused and thought. After a moment, she hesitatingly opened her mouth and said, "Larigio." To Ginny's immense relief, the silver and green flowed out of her hair; starting at the roots near her scalp and traveling down in gentle waves, the color faded away.
"Thank you," Ginny replied earnestly. "Where did that spell come from?"
"Well, I simply calculated the circumstances of-" Hermione started, but she never got to finish. At that moment, Ron Weasley leaned over the table and saw his sister crouched low in the seat.
"What are you doing, Ginny?" he said. "What were you and Parkinson on about? And why was your hair silver and green? And how did it get back to red?"
"Oh be quiet, Ron," Ginny said. She glanced up again at the head table. Professor McGonagall had stood and was about to turn to the hall. She dropped her wand, however, and bent down to pick it up. Now was Ginny's chance.
"Thanks again, Hermione," Ginny called as she rushed back to her seat at the Slytherin table. She sat down just in time to see Minerva McGonagall turn and walk down the aisle towards them. Nervously she ran a hand through her hair and tried to steady her harsh breathing.
"Mr. Creevey, Mr. Quinn, Miss Weasley, Mr. Zabini," McGonagall said, nodding her head as she passed by. To Ginny's surprise, the teacher didn't stop at their table but continued walking. Ginny let out a breath in relief, turned to Colin who was staring at her, and put on one of her biggest smiles.
"You're really lucky, you know that?" he said, shaking his head.
"So I've been told," Ginny said, tilting her head. Pansy Parkinson was scowling at her from across the table, but Ginny chose to ignore her.
"Mind changing my hair back?" Colin asked. "Green's really not my color."
Smiling, Ginny pulled out her wand, pointed it at Colin's hair, and said, "Larigio." The green quickly faded out of her friend's hair. Out of the corner of her eye, Ginny saw Blaise sneaking a peak at them. Probably trying to figure out how to turn his own hair back, Ginny thought. She purposefully pocketed her wand and turned back to Colin, wondering when Blaise Zabini would finish eating so that she could leave.
"Where are you going now, Potter?" Draco asked huffily, following Harry down the hall. Dinner had finished long ago and the two boys had spent the evening in the library; it seemed that's usually where they were. They had just left and Harry had started walking down the corridor.
"None of your business," Harry snapped back. Draco rolled his eyes, folded his arms over his chest, and continued to follow him. He thought back to dinner; he had been most curious about the hair of Blaise, Warren, Ginny, and Colin. As they were leaving the Great Hall, he pulled Blaise aside and asked him. Apparently, using enchanted snowballs, they had gotten into a snowball fight with their partners. And according to Blaise, they had kicked the Gryffindors' butts.
Draco sighed in frustration and looked at his watch. There was only an hour left until curfew…and that meant that now Draco could be rid of Potter for the night. The teachers had come up with the rule that they had to wait until an hour before curfew to leave. Draco's eyes lit up and he stopped in the hallway.
"Hey, Potter!" Draco shouted after the Gryffindor boy. Instead of turning and acknowledging Draco, Harry paused in front of a doorway and peaked into it. Draco watched as a grin crept up his face. "Punishment's over for the night," Draco concluded. He thought Harry's grin was because he too realized that they could leave. He was wrong.
Draco turned and started walking away, back towards his own common room, but he paused. Still grinning, Harry was staring into the room. A small flame of curiosity leapt inside of Draco, and he pondered for a moment whether he should look into the room as well.
Not wanting to look as if he cared, Draco sauntered towards the doorway. Shoving Harry out of the way with his shoulder, he looked into the room. It was an old, empty classroom, one the teachers rarely used. There were desks with chairs in front of them, lined up facing a blackboard at the front of the room. Right beneath the blackboard was a teacher's desk. And sitting on that desk was a dark blue box.
Peeves.
"Is that all?" Draco said, pretending that Peeve's didn't interest him at all. "You're easily amused, you know that, Potter?" Draco turned around and continued walking down the hall; Harry watched him turn a corner and then he walked the other way, continuing on to the Gryffindor house.
When Draco heard the shuffling of Harry's feet leave, he carefully poked his head around the corner; the hallway was empty. He quickly snuck into the room containing Peeve's the poltergeist, now Peeve's the blue box, and shut the door behind him.
"Finally," Ginny said, falling onto her bed. "Relaxation." That day had been particularly tiresome for Ginny. "I don't think I can spend another day like that with Blaise Zabini," she moaned, staring at her ceiling. "Heck, I can't spend another day like that with any Slytherin."
Ginny sighed and turned over, resting her chin in her pillow. Throughout the day, when she hadn't been either purposefully annoying Zabini, ignoring Zabini, or hitting Zabini with snowballs, she had been thinking about what Hermione had told her that morning. Somebody was going to ask her to the ball and Hermione knew about it. Ginny had gone through her list of suspects, checking them off her list as she went. There was always the possibility of Harry, but she doubted it would happen. Neville could ask again like he had for the Yule Ball, but it wasn't probable. Neville had become quieter and quieter over the past few years, tending to stay to himself.
Who is it? Ginny thought. Who could it possibly be?
Draco slowly walked up to the desk that held Peeves. He glanced down and stifled a laugh. The normally disturbingly annoying poltergeist seemed to have been transfigured into a box, plain and simple. His face was protruding from the top, his bottom lip stuck out and his brows wrinkled, almost as if to say "That's not fair."
"Who did this to you, Peeves?" Draco asked, smiling. Whoever had done it must have been a genius. As far as he knew, it was impossible to jinx a poltergeist. "Who did this to you?" he repeated when Peeves remained just as still as ever. The grin faded off of Draco's face; he was used to getting what he wanted.
"Stupid ghost," he muttered, glaring at the box. After several more moments watching it and telepathically ordering it to move, he turned around and walked out of the room, no wiser than when he had entered it.
Three more days passed without anything significant happening. Well, unless Ginny almost killing Blaise out of sheer annoyance was significant. The Slytherin had somehow managed to turn his hair back to normal, though Ginny didn't know how. On Sunday, because it was snowing too hard for anybody to go outside and Ginny couldn't stand being in the library anymore, she had convinced Blaise to go up to the Gryffindor common room. Originally, Ginny had planned to not do that because she'd rather not have a Slytherin in their house, but she honestly thought she'd jinx Madame Pince if she said another word about her being too noisy. So, after lots of pleading from Ginny, resistance from Blaise, and then a bat bogey hex threat from Ginny, Blaise finally consented. With mixed feelings about the situation, Ginny led him through the halls, up the many staircases, and through the portrait of the Fat Lady. She almost felt like a traitor by showing a Slytherin where their house was, but she tried to ignore that feeling.
The feeling only got worse when they stepped into the common room and all eyes immediately stared at them. As far as Ginny knew, no Slytherin had ever set foot in the Gryffindor house. She cautiously had led Blaise to a corner that had a table and chairs and they sat down and read for the remainder of the afternoon. Well, Ginny had read. Most of the time Blaise huffed, snorted, or made nasty comments about the Gryffindor common room. After several threats from nearby Gryffindors, he shut up. But not before Ginny had finally cracked and put a hex on Blaise that wouldn't allow him to speak. That plan had backfired, though, when the angry Slytherin stood and gaped at her like a fish on land. When he pulled out his wand and tried to curse Ginny, she relented and took the spell off of him. He remained quiet from then on. Well, mostly quiet.
Indeed, when Ginny woke up Wednesday morning, she woke with a feeling similar to the one she got on Christmas Eve. Today was the last day of her punishment, which meant that tomorrow would be a Blaise-free day. Ginny could hardly wait.
However, while she was eating breakfast that morning, her spirit fell slightly. As the owls soared in, circling above the tables and swooping down to deliver messages, Ginny spied an owl that was barely managing to stay in the air. His wings flapped furiously and his eyes bulged with exhaustion, descending lower and lower until he crashed into a Ravenclaw girl's plate, causing the girl to shriek and back away. Blaise's mouth twitched slightly.
"Oh no," Ginny said, realization dawning on her. She recognized that owl.
With a hoot, Errol, the Weasley's family owl, hopped up and shook himself; bits of scrambled eggs went flying. He hopped across the table, making his way to the Gryffindor one. "Oh no," Ginny repeated, burying her face in her hands. Errol jumped off the Ravenclaw table when he reached the end of it and instead of flying the rest of the way to the Gryffindor table, he chose to walk. Many of the students were laughing and pointing at the owl.
"Hey, Ginny," began Hermione, frowning as she watched the old owl, "isn't that Errol?"
"Yes," moaned Ginny. Goyle, with a jelly donut exploding out of his mouth, glanced at the owl momentarily before stuffing his face with another sweet. Harry was absent from their table; Draco had forced him to sit with the Slytherins this morning.
"Blimey, I wonder what's wrong with him," Ron said, staring with a raised eyebrow as the owl approached. Errol stopped when he reached Ginny's feet and hooted at her.
Reddening, Ginny bent over and untied the two letters that were attached to his leg. Then, before opening the letters, she tossed a piece of bacon to Errol. Snapping it up, he turned around and, after a few wing flaps, took off out of the room.
"Who are the letters to?" Ron asked. Ginny glanced at the letters. One was addressed to her and the other to her brother.
"Here," Ginny said, handing Ron's letter to him without even looking up. Hesitatingly she opened her own. This was the first letter she had received from her parents since that one Quidditch match. She was sure they had something to say about that, as well as her getting punished for it. She started reading.
Dear Ginny,
First off let me say that I am very happy that you are alright and were not too seriously hurt in that silly Quidditch game you and your brother played in last week. But I am extremely disappointed in you for playing in the first place. When Professor Dumbledore owled us and told us what had happened, I was very upset at Draco Malfoy. But you should have known better than to accept any offer from him. You, Ron, Harry, and all the others on your team should have known better. But no matter, I suppose it's already done and over with. And I must say that I full-heartedly approve of your punishment. As much I may dislike Slytherins in general, I know it's for the best.
Your broom is another matter entirely. I'm very sorry that it was broken in the accident, but I'm even sorrier to say that we simply cannot afford another one right now. I'm very sorry, Ginny. I wish things could have turned out differently. You'll just have to borrow one of the school's brooms for now.
Just know that we love you very much and hope that in the future, you'll follow the rules a bit more.
Lots of love,
Mum
Ginny sighed as she finished reading the letter. It pained her about the broom. She could get used to living without it since she hadn't had it very long, but she felt really bad about it breaking. Her parents had saved for a while to give it to her, she knew; brooms didn't come cheap.
"What does your say?" Ginny asked her brother, whose eyes were quickly reading his letter.
"Oh, the usual stuff," Ron grumbled. "You're going to be expelled, stop goofing around, why can't you be more like Percy…" Ron shook his head. "I swear that's all she ever thinks about."
"Yeah, well..." Ginny trailed off, staring into her cup of pumpkin juice. With the arrival of this letter and its disheartening contents, she suddenly didn't feel so lucky anymore.
The day passed quickly enough for Ginny. Soon she was finishing her dinner. Once again, and to her surprise, Blaise agreed to sit at the Gryffindor table. Briefly she wondered if he was up to something, but she tried to forget him. This was the last meal she'd have to share with him, and she wanted to get the night over with as soon as possible. Just as Ginny was wiping her face on a napkin, Draco Malfoy and Gregory Goyle stood from the table.
"Where do you think you're going?" Ginny questioned them.
Draco turned his grey eyes to her and said mischievously, "None of your business." Ginny's eyes narrowed.
"We're going to the library," Harry said, seeing Ginny's dark look. She watched him, as well as Ron, follow the two Slytherins out of the Great Hall. Halfway there, Ron turned around and shrugged his shoulders at her, almost as if to say, "What else can we do?" Ginny shook her head and rubbed her eyes. Blaise was watching his fellow housemates leave the room.
"So what do you think?" she asked, dreading the fact that she still had about three more hours to kill with Blaise. "Are we going to the library again too?"
Ignoring her, Blaise stood from the Gryffindor table and started walking out of the Great Hall. Ginny was considering staying right where she was, but when she looked up at the head table and saw Professor McGonagall staring at her meaningfully, she got up and went after Blaise.
"Wait up," she said, trotting after him in the almost-empty hallways. "Where are we going? The library is the other way," she said, frowning as she watched Harry's and Ron's backs turn a corner at the other end of the hallway and disappear from sight.
"I don't feel like going to the library," Blaise commented. "I'm going to spend this evening in my common room." Ginny's face instantly hardened, and she stopped dead in her tracks. "I've got tests coming up that I've hardly been able to study for because I'm spending every single night with you," Blaise finished, stopping and turning to face Ginny.
"I'm not going into the Slytherin house," Ginny said firmly.
"Yes you will," Blaise said, just as stiffly. "I spent a whole afternoon in yours; you can spend a few hours in mine."
With that said, Blaise began walking once more down the hallway. Ginny remained where she was, watching his back, until he was almost at the end of the corridor. "I suggest you hurry," he called over his shoulder. "If you don't, then you won't be able to find the Slytherin house and you'll get left behind," he turned the corner but still Ginny didn't move. Then she heard his voice call out, "And if McGonagall catches you without me, then you'll be in even more trouble."
Ginny debated on whether or not she should go, and she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. After a moment, she gave in and started running down the hallway. She skidded around the corner and almost smacked into Blaise, who was standing there, his arms folded across his chest, waiting with a knowing look on his face.
"I knew you'd give in," he smirked.
Ginny resisted the urge to hit him and said irritably, "Well let's go, then. I haven't got all night to just stand here in the hallway."
Blaise rolled his eyes and started walking at a brisk pace down the hallway. His much longer legs were carrying him farther than Ginny's so she sped up until she was almost jogging. Blaise led her through a few more corridors and down a couple flights of stairs. The air grew noticeably cooler and Ginny suppressed a shiver.
"I always knew that the Slytherin house had to be in the dungeons," Ginny muttered, wrapping her arms around herself under her cloak. "You're all vampires."
Without stopping, Blaise turned and looked at her with one raised eyebrow. Ginny narrowed her eyes and glared at him as they walked. Soon they came to a halt outside of a rough, stone wall.
"This is it?" Ginny asked. She had thought it would be more impressive.
Ignoring her yet again, Blaise said, "Wolfsbane." Ginny watched as a hidden door that she had not yet noticed slid out of the wall and to the left with a low grating sound, revealing a small opening in the wall. Without looking to see if she was following, Blaise entered it. With a bad feeling yanking on her good sense, she walked after him.
Ginny gazed around warily at the room she had just entered; round green lamps hung on rusted chains from a low stone ceiling. Three short, immediate steps led down into the middle of the room where there was a very large fire place; elaborate carvings of various witches, wizards, creatures, and buildings decorated the mantle. Wooden chairs with similar carvings were dotted along the room. In addition to the wood furniture, hard, black leather couches were centered around a similarly-carved table that was in front of the fireplace. There were no windows in this room, only the green lamps which gave off an eerie glow, and a few candles that were lit along the walls. No wonder everybody in Slytherin is so pale, Ginny thought.
Immediately Ginny longed for the warmth and hospitality of the Gryffindor common room, but Blaise clearly appeared comfortable for he quickly trotted down the three steps and took a seat on one of the couches. There were a few Slytherin girls already there and they crowded around him as he took a seat. Looking smug, Blaise Zabini let his attention wander between the girls who were all sending him inviting looks, their eyelashes fluttering very quickly. Ginny hated these kinds of girls.
It seemed as if nobody had yet noticed Ginny's presence in the room, for nobody acknowledged her. She didn't know if that was a good or bad thing, but she thought it was a good thing. A few other students were either sitting in the chairs reading, or huddled near two different staircases on the back wall that spiraled upwards and out of sight.
Ginny cautiously stepped away from the doorway, liking the Slytherin house less and less as each second passed. As she stepped down the stairs, her footsteps echoed in the stone room. As if on cue, all the heads in the room turned to her.
"What's she doing in here?" a boy from the back of the room demanded, standing from his seat.
"Who let a Gryffindor into our house?" called another. Ginny's heartbeat quickened as she gazed back and forth between all the angry people. Blaise, who now had both of his arms around girls, sighed and his cocky look drained away until only one of annoyance rested on his face. The girls he was with all eyed Ginny suspiciously and appraisingly, sending dirty, almost jealous, looks her way.
"Get out of here," said a large boy, moving threateningly towards Ginny, who backed away slightly.
"Leave her alone, Mike," Blaise said. "She has to stay with me until curfew; you know why."
"Yes but why did you have to let her in here?" the boy called Mike asked Blaise. His tall, muscular frame held a face that was dotted with blonde hair that was fast becoming a beard.
"Because I don't feel like spending another day in that damned library," Blaise said, clearly irritated. Mike seemed to notice for he stopped questioning Blaise. Still eyeing Ginny, he sat down in a seat and continued to stare at her.
Slightly unnerved, Ginny continued down the steps and took a seat on the end of one of the couches; it was very hard and stiff, almost like she was sitting on stone rather than a couch. All of the girls glared at her until Blaise started talking to them again; then they seemed to almost completely forget about Ginny, so wrapped up in what he was saying to them.
"You are so handsome, Blaise," cooed of the girls who had long black hair. All of the other girls voiced their similar sentiments and started to try to engage the Slytherin boy in a conversation. Ginny wanted to slap his smug look right into next week. Instead, she grabbed a copy of the Daily Prophet from the table and started thumbing through it. I should have brought a book to read, thought Ginny.
She wasn't able to read much anyway. Not ten minutes after she had sat down, the girls around her started making snide comments about her.
"Just look at those robes," one of them whispered to a girl next to her, loudly enough so that Ginny could hear. "It looks like she stepped out of a fashion nightmare."
"And have you seen the clothes she's wearing underneath?" another hissed behind her hand. "I think she's going for the ratty-tatty look."
"And look at that hair," another girl with blonde hair almost shrieked. "See how red it is? Looks like someone lit a torch to it."
"Ladies, ladies," droned Blaise, "let's try to be civil. You at least have to comment on how clean her teeth are. I'm surprised she was even taught to brush considering the pigsty she grew up in."
Ginny's breath was coming out hard as she fought to control herself. She knew coming here was a bad idea. What else could a whole bunch of Slytherins be? Maybe, though, if she just ignored them and continued to read quietly, she could get through the next few hours without being sent to Azkaban for murder.
However, as the night progressed, her situation only grew worse. The girls around her only became more raucous and malicious. They even forgot about whispering and started insulting her to her face. A few times Ginny considered standing up and cursing them until they couldn't talk anymore; other times she half rose out of her seat, ready to just leave and face whatever wrath McGonagall might have. But her sense of duty played out stronger in the end, for she remained in her seat, forcefully staring at the front page of the Daily Prophet. She had read the first line over and over but could not concentrate enough to actually get anywhere in the story.
Ginny wondered what time it was. A few times Blaise had left the room, momentarily coming back with a different book or so. Even though he had a book with him, he never actually read it. Instead he chose to talk with his friends. Ginny glanced around the room; across from them, standing near the passageway that Ginny had walked through earlier, were two boys that Ginny guessed were in sixth or seventh year. They had been standing there for about fifteen minutes, whispering to each other and glancing at her occasionally. Ginny was becoming slightly nervous under their gaze.
In an effort to avert her attention, Ginny looked around the room. Most of the students had already left to go to their separate dormitories or had left the Slytherin house altogether. In fact, only about twenty or so students remained in the room, including Blaise and his groupies. However, the Slytherin boy, whom Ginny had spent the past week with, rose from his seat and said to his friends, "I'll be right back." Then he walked up one of the staircases that Ginny assumed belonged to the boys' dormitories. Soon he was out of sight.
As Ginny's eyes continued to roam over a seemingly empty, stone wall, they came to rest on a clock. Excited now, Ginny squinted her eyes; the clock was made of stone and blended in almost exactly with the wall. To her delight, she saw that the clock read nine-o-clock…exactly one hour before curfew. A great weight seemed to lift off of Ginny's shoulders as she realized that she was now finished with her punishment.
As she rose out of her seat, fully prepared to leave the dreary Slytherin common room, a hand rested on her shoulder and pushed her back down into her seat. Confused, Ginny saw the two boys that had been standing near the door were on either side of her. One of them plopped into the seat on her left and the other sat on the armrest on her right, leaning over and putting his arm around the back of the couch.
"And what is your name?" The one on her right asked. Ginny stared back at him, anger seething through her. This boy's brown, stringy hair hung slightly in his eyes, which seemed dark with a look that Ginny couldn't identify.
"It doesn't matter," Ginny said evenly, "because I was just leaving." She tried to rise out of her seat but the other boy, the one on her left, again pulled her back into the seat.
"But we haven't gotten to know you yet," this boy said. His whole face screamed evil; his dark eyes were hidden behind shoulder-length, curly black hair. Ginny wanted to run away, but it seemed she wasn't able to move. She looked around for Blaise, for it seemed that the people in the Slytherin house seemed to respect him like they did Draco Malfoy. Well, not respect. Perhaps fear.
"I don't want to get to know you," Ginny said, her heart rate speeding up again. This situation didn't look good. The girls that had been crowded around Blaise were watching her with glee on their faces. Like a rat caught in a trap, Ginny's eyes darted around the room, hoping to find any welcoming face that would help her. All she saw were cold gazes watching with an almost bored appearance to them.
The boy on Ginny's right, the one sitting on the armrest, chuckled, clearly amused at her response. "Yes you do," he whispered in her ear; his arm was slung across her shoulder. His fingers started tapping against Ginny's upper arm and he stared into her eyes. Angry and slightly afraid, Ginny brought her elbow up full-force, slamming into the boy's eye. He howled in pain and brought both of his hands up to his face, a grimace contorting his face into an ugly look.
Ginny leapt up to her feet and whipped out her wand, turning to face the two boys.
"You witch!" the brown-haired boy shouted as he stood up, rubbing his eye which was quickly turning black. The other boy that was sitting on the couch stood as well and they both pulled out their wands, eyeing Ginny dangerously.
"Stay the bloody hell away from me," Ginny warned, moving her wand back and forth between the two boys, trying to figure out which one was more dangerous. She backed away slowly, moving towards the door. To her surprise, nobody moved to help their two housemates; the girls on the couch merely turned and watched her leave as if this sort of thing happened every day.
The brown-haired boy, the one that Ginny had hit, opened his mouth and started to curse her, but Ginny was faster. She pointed her wand at him and shouted the first spell that came to mind. "Petrificus Totalus!" Immediately the boy toppled over backward, his entire body rigid.
Just as the other, black-haired boy was about to shout another curse at her, Ginny tripped over the stairs; she hadn't realized she had backed up that far. A jet of green light whooshed over her head as her back hit the steps. She heard the same grating sound of the hidden door moving and she desperately turned around, hoping to find somebody that would help her.
It was Draco Malfoy.
"What the-" Draco started, confused. Ginny could only imagine what his reaction was. The last person he had expected to see in his common room, Ginny Weasley, was sprawled on the floor with jinxes being shouted at her from his fellow housemates. The boy who had tried to curse her, not noticing Draco, opened his mouth to curse her again, but Draco beat him to it. He quickly pulled out his wand and said calmly, "Stupefy." The boy slumped backwards onto the couch.
For a moment, Ginny stared at the two now-motionless boys. Then she gingerly stood up and faced Draco, who was staring at her with narrowed eyes. The rest of the common room had become even more silent at the sight of Draco, who was now pocketing his wand. Ginny started walking for the door, and paused when she walked past Draco. Unsure whether she should thank him or not, she opened her mouth. Before she could say anything, Draco spoke.
"Punishment's over," he said simply, his eyes cold and hard. Ginny stared at him a moment longer. What was wrong with this boy? He had just saved her and all he could say was "punishment's over"? Though Ginny didn't know what she had expected him to say, it certainly wasn't that.
So, without another word and without another backwards glance, she exited the Slytherin common room. When she stepped into the cold hallway, the stone door grated shut behind her and she was left standing alone.
"What happened?" asked Blaise Zabini as he hurried back down the staircase. He saw the two boys who were lying on the ground. "I heard shouting…" he trailed off as he spotted Draco.
"Sloan and Darryson were bothering Ginny Weasley is what happened," stated Draco. "Had to curse them before they cursed her." He walked across the room and stepped over the boy who had been petrified by Ginny. "We can't have any other punishments going on, can we?" he said with his eyebrows raised. Blaise shook his head slowly and watched warily as Draco walked by. "Frankly, I'm tired of it." Then Draco disappeared up the staircase, going to get ready for bed.
That night, Ginny had a hard time falling to sleep. As she laid in bed, all she could picture were those two boys and what they might have done to her if Draco hadn't shown up. She shivered, huddled under the blankets. She wasn't cold, but somehow the blankets were comforting to her.
When she had returned to the Gryffindor house, she breathed in relief as she saw the warm colors of red and gold. Harry and Ron were sitting around the fire, smiling, obviously happy that their punishment was over. They had looked up at Ginny when she entered and asked where she had been, that they hadn't seen her in the library. Ginny had just shrugged her shoulders and answered, "Around." She really didn't feel like relating what she had been through. Not yet, anyway.
Actually, as she laid their thinking about it, she had had people cursing her quite a bit lately. First Blaise and Warren during the snowball fight, then Pansy at lunch, and finally these two boys. Why does everybody hate me? Ginny thought, shaking her head.
The next evening, Ginny was sitting in the common room and reading a book. Harry and Ron were sitting in their favorite chairs near the fire playing a game of Exploding Snap. Hermione was watching and telling them that they should be finishing their homework. Colin, Dennis, Seamus, and Dean were gathered around as well, all enjoying the fact that they hadn't had to spend the day with any Slytherins.
"You really should be working on that essay Professor Binns gave us today," Hermione stated. "If you don't do better in your work, you won't be able to get a job anywhere."
"That's all you ever think about is work, Hermione," Ron said in disbelief. "Honestly, it'll be a miracle if you ever get married someday. You'll have to find somebody who enjoys it just as much as you."
Ginny grinned behind her book and glanced up to see that Hermione had straightened in her seat and was now smiling shyly. "Actually, Ronald," Hermione started, "I have."
"What?" Ron and Harry asked at the same time, looking up from their game. Hermione was now beaming.
"I found somebody who likes work just as much as me," Hermione repeated. "He asked me to the ball a week or so ago. I said yes."
"Who asked you?" Ron demanded.
"A boy in Ravenclaw named Ewan Swestan," Hermione replied.
"Blimey," Ron said, looking distraught. "Does he know what he's gotten himself into?"
As everybody around them started laughing, Hermione threw a book at Ron, who ducked. Ginny shook her head and returned to her book.
"We do need to look into getting dates," Harry said. "Don't want the same thing happening as the Yule Ball." He and Ron shared a knowing look and groaned.
"As long as we're talking about dates," Seamus began. "Ginny, will you go to the ball with me?"
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A/N: What did you think? Hopefully it wasn't too predictable or cliche, though I think it got like that in some parts. Oh well though. Review!
Lauren
