Chapter Three: It's all Good Fun Until Somebody Loses an Eye
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Harry was the one who had brought up snails, so Ginny decided that he should get some idea of what a snail's existence was like.
She did some research in the Restricted Section of the library. (Damn! But she loved Harry's invisibility cloak, especially since he didn't know that she knew he had it. So, of course, he didn't know when she had it.)
The potion was actually quite simple, and didn't appear to be permanently harmful, so she copied the recipe down and brewed it in Moaning Myrtle's loo. It was finished the Wednesday after Harry had hexed her watch.
Ginny didn't use it for another week, though, as she needed to wait for a particular time of the month -- not for the potion, for her alibi.
Ginny spent the third Thursday of the month using Weasley Wizarding Wheezes on herself. She fainted once during charms and once during her career counseling. Prof. McGonagall sent her to the Hospital Wing, where she managed one last faint for Madam Pomfrey.
Madam Pomfrey diagnosed iron-poor blood due to its being that time of month and gave her blood replenishing potion and a bright pink potion for her cramps. She told Professor McGonagall that Ginny needed to spend the day in bed. McGonagall informed Ginny's teachers that she would not be in class on Friday. Which made Ginny very happy, as it not only gave her a free day to prank and observe, but it got her out of Potions.
She'd have to write two essays to make up for missing that class, but it was worth it to not have to be in the same room as Snape.
Friday morning, she managed to slip the Snail Snot Potion into Harry's breakfast tea. He wasn't on his guard at all, because she was allegedly confined to her room. (Damn, she really loved that cloak!)
It was fun when Harry began to sweat snail slime. He had to hold his flatware just so, or it would drip into his food. It was easy to follow him from the Great Hall to the Hospital Wing… where he had been told that he'd have to wait for it to wear off. (It was not so easy to keep from giggling.)
After Harry received the happy news that he'd be sweating snail slime all day, he went to Charms, where Flitwick managed to keep the snail snot from ruining Harry's exam paper, although there wasn't much he could do for Harry's concentration. Ginny bit her lip, but it looked like Harry would pass the exam anyway.
Perhaps she should have done this on the weekend? No, there would have been too many people in Gryffindor Tower for her to sneak the cloak out of Harry's dormitory room.
Then Harry went down into the dungeons with the rest of the sixth years. Ginny winced. She had forgotten that he had Potions that day. She didn't dare try to sneak inside Snape's classroom. So she had no way of knowing exactly what had exploded.
Potions class was canceled for the rest of the day, so it must have been nasty.
Harry had detention, as Snape had decided to make him clean whatever it was off the floors, and the walls, and the ceiling, all by himself. And he had to do it without magic, of course.
The joke lost its humor long before Harry came staggering into the common room covered in soot and smelling of dragon's blood. (Obviously, one of the twelve uses thereof included cleaning dungeons.)
Harry sank into a squishy chair next to the fire. This late, there were only a few people left downstairs.
Ginny went over and scourgified him. Having been taught by her mother, who was used to cleaning up after her brothers, Ginny's cleaning spell was exceptionally strong.
"Thanks," Harry sighed. He pulled off his glasses and massaged the bridge of his nose.
"I'm sorry," Ginny said in a small voice.
"Not your…" Harry stopped in mid-word. Then his eyes opened slowly and he studied Ginny for a long moment. "It was your fault, wasn't it?"
"Yes," Ginny said. She braced herself for an explosion that didn't come.
Instead, Harry gave her a wounded look.
"Good-night, Ginny," he sighed. Then he trudged off to bed without yelling or even demanding an explanation.