Chapter Five: The Enemy's not half bad!

Ginny sat in Potions. Since she was advanced, she had it with Hermoine, Demi, Harry, and Ron. Unfortunately Gryffindors had Potions with Slytherins; which meant Draco, Connor, Pansy, and Buffy and Cin also somehow had made it into Advanced Potions.

Ginny was slightly relieved by the fact that after this, she had Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid. She had Luna in that class and she was dying to ask her how to get her little cousin Audrey to shut up.

Then it was onward to lunch, then Muggle Studies with Jayden and Neville, but unfortunately Draco and Buffy had that class as well.

Then she had Charm with Luna, and then later, Herbology with the girl also. It was onward to Defense Against the Dark Arts after that, which she found she had no one in that class, except Buffy and Cin, and they didn't actually count. Then it was to dinner and then to the library to finish all of her homework.

"Potions is not an easy class to pass, by the end of this semester, half of you will need tutors. For this first potion of the year, we will be doing a simple sleeping potion," Snape briskly said, walking around the room. "Instead of you choosing your partners and probably all together screwing up your potion, I'll be assigning you partners."

A chorus of groans was heard from the class, until Snape fixed the class with a steely gaze. Snape was notorious for putting two people that particularly hated each other together.

"Finnigan and Thomas."

"Longbottom and Bell."

"Potter and Renoire."

The young Slytherin girl gave Harry a distasteful look.

"The boy Weasley and Lewis."

Buffy rolled her eyes when she was paired with Ron.

"Crabbed and Goyle."

"Pansy and Clod."

Vivian Clod was a nerdy, studious Gryffindor who never spoke, and about bawled when paired with Pansy.

"Sunts and Granger."

Hermoine shot Ginny a smirk.

"And last but not lease, Malfoy and the girl Weasley."

Draco looked particularly outraged at the pairing, but didn't make it a point to act out. Tomorrow they would do their potions.

By the time the day was over, Ginny was weighed down with homework. She sat in the library with a one-parchment essay over the effects of the Droolius sleeping potion, a two parchment essay over the eating habits of Flobber Worms, a six-parchment essay over the toaster over for Muggle Studies, for her Charms practiced she had to be able to "Luminos" perfectly, in Herbology she had a two-parchment paper over magical plants that heal burns, and lastly Defense Against the Dark Arts.

That class had been particularly interesting, partly because of the new professor. Professor Lindallos was perhaps the best professor Ginny had ever had. Instead of bombarding the class with work, she simply told them she only believed in homework as a punishment and that's what it would be used for.

Professor Lindallos was as interesting as they come. She had a long blonde mane of hair and the biggest brown eyes. She was of medium height and her voice was friendly. One thing she did that made Ginny like her immediately was her telling Buffy Lewis that she should button up her robes more, this was a school, not a cat house!

Lastly, she gave no work the first day, she just laid down basic classroom rules and such.

Ginny finished the sleeping potions essay and Flobberworm essay easily, but found writing six pages of parchment over a toaster oven quit difficult. Ashe was struggling to find in her book where the toaster over had originated, Luna came up and plopped her books next to Ginny.

"Hey Luna," Ginny smiled as she dipped her quill into her ink well again, still not finding her answers in the Muggle Studies book.

Luna sat there for maybe fifteen minutes tops and then left.

Ginny wished she retained information like Luna and could express her ideas as easy on parchment. But, she couldn't, so she was in the library for hours.

"Still working on that Muggle Studies essay?" A deep voice reached Ginny's ears. She turned and saw Draco Malfoy's hands on the back of her chair.

Instead of being rude, which she thought of doing first, she answered with, "Yes, I'll be finished as soon as I figure out where the stupid toaster oven originated from."

Draco took Ginny's Muggle Studies book and flipped to the respective page. He smiled down at her as she sighed, dipped her quill again, and scribbled down the answer.

"Thanks, I would've been here all night. Now I can finish my Herbology homework and leave," She said, pulling out two more pieces of parchment.

"Well, should I keep you company, everyone else seems to have gone." Draco pulled out the chair Luna had sat in and sat down himself.

Ginny wondered why he was being nice to her. Wasn't she just Weasel? A mud-blood lover? Befriended of muggles? What was wrong with him?

"What're you having to do for Herbology?" When Ginny looked at Draco, she saw he was being sincere. Seeing that look on his face shocked her so much, but not too much to where she couldn't answer.

"Two pages of parchment over magical plants that heal burns," Ginny replied, flipping open her Herbology book as she began to scribble things down.

"I saw you outside with Lovegood today after Potions, what class were you in?"

"Care of Magical Creatures, it's kind of boring, we're reviewing Flobberworms." She rolled her eyes thinking of Hagrid's lectures on the boring creatures.

"I remember when we raised those one year. All they do is sit there and then you poke lettuce in their mouths." He laughed, watching as her eyes sparkled with laughter.

"Yeah, I hope we do something more interesting soon, I can't stand anymore lectures on how to properly feed and care for an ugly worm." She scribbled several more things onto her parchment.

"Yea, that must suck," Draco said in a soft voice, that to her, sounded almost sympathetic.

"So how do you like those Potions pairings?" Her eyebrows shot up in amusement.

He smiled and laughed, "You're a smart girl, I think we can make the potion. Tell Granger to watch out though, Connor has a thing for her."

"Seriously? Because Herms has been swooning over him all morning." Ginny was shocked that she'd just confided something like that in Draco. He was still the enemy, they weren't in front of anyone. He might just be being nice because no one was around.

"I've got to go…I need my sleep," Ginny said. She didn't need anymore morsels of information to slip.

"Walk you to your portrait?" He held out his arm, as she pushed all her books into her satchel. Going against all better instinct, she linked her arm with his and let him lead her toward the Gryffindor portrait.

"Bye Ginny, see you in Potions," He whispered before walking off in the direction of the Slytherin portrait

As soon as Draco was out of sight, Ginny whispered "Lobalug" and the portrait swung open. As soon as she stepped into the common room, Hermoine pounced.

"Where have you been Virginia Weasley? I asked Luna and she said you'd been at the library with her, AN HOUR AGO! Who were you with?" Hermoine wore a questioning expression and her eyes were slightly narrowed.

"Well, I have good news for you! I was in the library and Draco came up…" Ginny began.

"Draco!"

"Let me finish. We got to talking and Connor likes you!" Ginny squealed.

Hermoine smiled and began skipping around the common room.

"I knew you'd be happy," Ginny laughed, watching Hermoine.

"Did Draco walk you back to the portrait?" Hermoine asked suspiciously, stopping her sudden skipping.

When Ginny nodded, Hermoine immediately yelled, "I KNEW IT!" When people started yelling at them to shut up, Hermoine gave one last nervous laugh before jerking Ginny up toward their room.

"See Hermoine, we've found the good men."

End Chapter Five: The Enemy's Not Half Bad!

Artee: Sorry for the delay. And yes, she did say her name was Virginia, don't some of you get your knickers in a knot about it again.

Sorry for the delay. And yes, she did say her name was Virginia, don't some of you get your knickers in a knot about it again.