When transfiguration ended Tuesday afternoon, Draco had no problem slipping away from his classmates, because they seemed more interested in avoiding him than anything else. Not as if I mind, he thought as he walked slowly in the direction of Myrtle's bathroom.
Draco was not particularly excited about spending his free time in a girl's bathroom, but if he would be working on potions it was not so bad. The evening before Draco created a list of possible ingredients that he wanted Ginny to test in her potion. He was actually very interested in her project, because it was significantly more complex than any he had actually attempted. Draco usually tended to be more practical than visionary, because he hated to fail. This time, however, if the potion failed, he had an excuse: Weasley did it. And that was a comfort.
As he approached the entrance to the bathroom he checked to see if the hallway was clear, before quickly darting inside. Draco was amused by what he found inside. Seated cross-legged in a sink was Ginny Weasley with a book open in her lap, quill balanced over her ear, and brows furrowed in concentration. On the floor around her were books and scattered scraps of parchment.
"Made yourself comfortable, have you?"
Ginny looked up at the sound of his voice, smiled, then looked back down at her book while replying, "Yes, well, this is hardly the most comfortable room in the castle. It is all tile and porcelain. And I'll have you know, if you get rid of the faucet, sinks are actually not that bad."
Draco laughed a little before opening a stall door and transfiguring a toilet into a squashy armchair.
"That is hardly fair," Ginny noted as she scribbled a note onto a piece of parchment. "And besides, how will you explain an armchair in a bathroom if anyone asks. As least the sink belongs here."
"Oh, and there is nothing strange about your books and notes filling up the place, or the fact that there is a redhead perched in the sink? Besides, it is a laboratory now."
Ginny shrugged.
"Okay, so tell me what we have going on," Draco said as he moved his armchair into Ginny's workspace. He reached down to the floor and scooped up a handful of parchment. "May I?" he asked before reading through them.
"Go ahead," she said closing the book in her lap. "I haven't really done any practical work on the potion yet. I have been trying to work out the theory of it first. I figure there are two main elements to it. One is the dark protection, which obviously needs to have some means by which to detect dark magic, and a means by which to destroy the magic without harming the body. The second is a shield element that will prevent any other dark magic, or harmful magic at all, I suppose, from entering the body. That is where your potion will come in handy, if you will let me borrow from it, of course."
"We are a team now, so what is mine is yours."
"Perfect. Okay, so the real problem is the first part- I am fairly certain I can cook up some sort of detection potion. My mum used them on us all the time when we were small to see when we were ill. It could detect the illness and tell her what it is. I figure we can just alter that a bit to target dark magic."
"So," Draco began leaning forward in his chair, "we have three parts: detection, destruction, and protection. Are you planning to do a single potion that will do all three at once? If you do, you will have to deal with mixing ingredients, because you may run into the problem of an ingredient you have to have for detection completely counteracts one you need for the protection."
"I thought about that, and if I have to do them separately I will, but the detection and destruction parts definitely have to go together, because they are no good separately."
"Why detect in the first place? Why not just create something that will dispel all magic in the body?"
"I don't want to get rid of any positive magic working for a person, especially things that cannot be replaced. For example, anything left by Harry's mother's love protection would be swept away along with any negative effects from Voldemort's curse."
Draco sneered. "I thought you weren't doing this for Harry. I don't want to help out that little nancy boy."
"I thought we already determined that I am not. It was an example. If you don't trust me you can leave."
Draco glared at her a moment before conceding. "Fine. Go on."
"So detection is a piece of cake. For destruction I am looking for the love component, because I figure what can kill hate but love? That is where these books come in." Ginny motioned a hand across a teetering tower of books to her left. "Ancient love spells. I liked your idea about a combination potion, and I figure the love spell will be more genuine than a love potion. Besides, after what happened to Ron last year, I am not a huge fan."
"I heard about that. Romilda Vane is a menace to society. You have no idea how many times she has tried to slip me a potion. Of course, I am smarter than you bloody Gryffindors, so I know one when I see one."
"Yeah, yeah, you're wonderful. Now get over yourself. Part three is the protection and with your potion plus our love magic we could seriously do some damage. So let's get to work. I suggest you work on a list of ingredients that could be useful in the potion- one way or another- and the effects of combining them." Draco raised an eyebrow. "What?" Ginny cried exasperated.
"I already did that." Draco produced a sheet of parchment filled with potions ingredients.
"Oh, well… Good for you. Find something else to do… Overachiever."
Draco laughed. "Your mad at me because I already finished what you want me to do? Is that supposed to be a bad thing?"
"No, it is fine, Hermione."
Draco gagged a little. "Gross. You're right. I'll never do it again." Ginny rolled her eyes and looked back down at her notes.
The two worked in semi-amiable silence for hours before Ginny's stomach let out a growl.
"Hungry, weasel?"
Ginny shrugged, but said, "Let's stop here. What did you get done?"
"Well, I found several spells that might work, but I'm not sure how they will combine with the potion. I think at this point, we should just start from the beginning and do trial and error. You said that you can make a detection potion, so lets do it, target it to dark magic, then work some spells on it."
"I agree. I've got a recipe that I think might work, though it may need a little tweaking. I'm not sure how I am going to get some of these ingredients, though."
Draco reached forward and took the list from Ginny. "These aren't too bad. Snape has all of them in his cupboard. I'll snatch some and bring them with me next time."
"You can do that?"
"I'm a Slytherin, I can do whatever I want."
Again Ginny rolled her eyes. "You are a prat, is what you are, but get me those ingredients and we'll start cooking."
"Done."
"Fine," said Ginny as her stomach growled again.
"Go eat, you pig." With that, Draco vanished his armchair and stalked out the door.
When Draco entered the Great Hall for dinner, no one at his table spared him a glance. Draco sat at one of the few available spots left, near a group of first years at the end of the table. His meal went by uneventfully until he reached for another piece of chicken to find that a particularly porky blonde boy had cleared the platter. Draco lashed out at the boy with a few choice words, lamented the loss of the chicken, and found something else to eat.
Generally Draco stayed in the Great Hall until it was almost empty, because it was somewhat peaceful in the large room when no one was around. The echoes and quiet murmuring were oddly calming. Tonight was no exception. He was leaned back in the nearly empty room examining the sky above, when the large wooden door slammed open and someone came barreling in. Draco let out a surprised cry and fell backwards off of his bench.
Before he could pull himself off the ground he heard someone mutter, "Well that was dignified," which resulted in tittering laughter. Once righted and his hair smoothed, Draco glared around to see who had caused his embarrassment and saw Ginny sitting at the Gryffindor table shoving what was left of the food quickly into her mouth. Apparently she had not followed him out of the bathroom and was devouring what she could before the tables were cleared.
Draco glared at her until she looked up at him. She managed to look slightly ashamed before grabbing more food.
Finally the tables emptied of all but Draco and Ginny, sitting at their respective tables and doing their best to ignore each other. When the food remains finally disappeared, Draco heard a disappointed groan from the Gryffindor table, and he let out a chuckle.
"What?" Ginny called across the large room, her voice echoing. "I had just gotten to my dessert!"
Draco called out, "Maybe hungry little weasels should get to dinner on time instead of terrorizing the rest of the student body. I'm sure you caused half of the students to lose their appetites after seeing your voracious eating."
"Maybe," Ginny retorted angrily, "little ferrets should not vanish perfectly good toilets after they have been transfigured, because someone will have to replace them!"
"Well maybe weasels should learn to tread quietly when entering a room late, because their hideous appearance might horrify the little ones."
Ginny's eyes narrowed and she stood, shouting a little louder, "Maybe ferrets should not be so bloody skittish and learn proper table manners! Honestly, you eat on the table, not under it!"
Draco's face flushed and he stood to yell, "Who are you to tell me about table manners, obviously your mother-" but Draco was cut off by a throat clearing from the head table. Both students' eyes widened as they looked up to find Professor McGonagall watching them with a cross between sternness and amusement.
"Now Miss Weasley and Mr. Malfoy, one on hand, you should know better than to shout in the Great Hall, however, it has been brought to my attention that you are already serving a protracted detention assignment in the library, so I will not add to it. I will, however, take five points each and ask you to kindly make your way to your detention where Madam Pince is no doubt waiting for her two tardy students."
Draco and Ginny glanced at each other quickly before grabbing their bags and hurrying out of the room.
The days passed quickly and it was already time for the unlikely pair's next workday in the "laboratory." Draco beat Ginny this time, found a sink and perched uncomfortably in it while he waited. When Ginny arrived he offered her a bag of potions ingredients and Ginny smiled before pulling a caldron and other devices out of a stall.
The potion making experience went well. The two worked well together, because they were skilled at the art of potion making, and could work from the recipe with little communication. The recipe went together perfectly, without a single problem, and the pair sat basking their success as the potion cooled. It would be fully matured and functional once it dropped below 100degrees Fahrenheit, so Draco and Ginny chatted while they waited.
"So how are we going to test this?" Draco asked.
"Well, I guess we'll have o find someone with a dark curse? And make them drink it?"
"What if we poison them?"
"Choose someone you don't like?" Ginny asked with a feigned look of innocence.
"For a Gryffindor, you are evil!" Draco replied with a chuckle. "Though, I could suggest Crabbe or Goyle. I'm sure they've got all kinds of- do you smell that?" Draco asked suddenly.
Ginny sniffed and looked at the potion in alarm. "It shouldn't smell like that! What did we do wrong?" She snatched up the recipe and the pair leaned over the caldron to determine what the problem was.
All at once, Ginny heard Myrtle appear asking "What are you doing in my bathroom?! It smells awful!" and with a rumble, the caldron exploded in her and Draco's faces. The two were thrown back to the wall in a puddle of goopy brown liquid and a puff of black smoke.
From where she lay, Ginny could not see Draco, but she could hear him. The noises of disgust and pain were more than her present situation could handle and she burst into laughter.
"What are you laughing at? Hurry up and get this off of me! It could be poisonous! It could be seeping into my bloodstream!"
"It could burn your precious hair right off of your head!" Ginny laughed.
"AHH!" Draco screamed and jumped up to the sink where he tried to splash water to clean off his face.
"Here, let me help." Ginny giggled as she got up, grabbed her wand, shouted 'Augamenti,' and aimed for Draco's face.
"Hey! Watch it!" he cried.
Moaning Myrtle, who had been watching the scene with mild disgust, decided to help matters by causing all of the sinks and toilets to overflow.
"Stop!" Draco cried. "Help me! I'm drowning!"
Ginny just laughed at Draco's now clean, but sopping wet figure, and turned her wand on herself to wash the potion remains off. Draco stopped whining and watched with intrigue as Ginny splashed around in the water of the bathroom.
All of a sudden, she ran over to him, linked her arm around his, and sang, "I'm singing in the rain, just signing in the rain! What a glorious feeling, I'm happy again!" Now Ginny cannot sing a note to save her life, she was running around a flooded bathroom kicking up water all over the place, and her wet hair was plastered to her head, giving the impression of a drowned cat, so Draco couldn't help but laughing.
In fact, after a few choruses of Singing in the Rain, he had caught on to some of the lyrics, and had started to sing along while swinging off of bathroom stalls and jumping into the sink to spray water into the air like a fountain. Finally, Ginny collapsed to the ground in a puddle of water of questionable cleanliness, and laughed until she couldn't laugh anymore.
Draco sat atop a sink that he had managed to shut off and watched the redhead get control of her emotions. He had never had so much fun in his life. His cheeks were sore from smiling, and his eyes twinkled with unshed tears of laughter.
When the two were finally calm enough to try to stand, Draco walked to Ginny, and offered her his hand. She took his assistance, stood, and smiled at him. "You are completely mental, you know that!" she said.
"Yes, well, it's your fault for singing that ridiculous song!" he replied with a grin.
"A muggle song I might add," said Ginny with a smirk.
"And I already said it was ridiculous! Honestly who wants to run around singing in the rain? You get all wet and dirty."
"And you don't get wet and dirty by dancing in the toilet water of a girl's bathroom?"
"That's gross, Ginny," Draco said as he grimaced at his wet clothes.
"I'll show you what is gross! Look in the mirror! You are now the amazing WET bouncing ferret."
"Well, you are no paragon of beauty yourself, or dryness for that matter."
"And to think I was finding you rather charming?"
"And you wonder why I have no respect for the Weasleys! You find me hideous at my height of fashion and grooming, and find me charming when I have been recently drowned… by you!"
"And what a good look it is," Ginny joked. "I suppose I shall just have to drown you more often!" As she said this, Draco opened the door, allowing her to pass before him. When she stopped abruptly in the doorway, he pushed her and said, "Budge along! Out of my way."
Ginny whirled on him, "Don't tell me what to do you miserable little ferret!"
Draco looked shocked, but saw humor in Ginny's eyes, then noticed their audience. Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood a few feet away looking shocked at the disheveled and wet apparition that was Ron's little sister, and the equally disheveled Draco Malfoy. Had it been any other girl, there probably would have been no doubt about what the two were up to in the bathroom. The pair's flushed cheeks would have told a far different story than the one that had unfolded.
Draco cleared his throat, "You seem to keep forgetting, weasel, that I am better than you, therefore I can tell you to do whatever I want, and you will obey like the slime that you are."
"Slime Malfoy? No, I believe that was the, uh, spell, that I cast on you. Lots of goopy brown slime. And you certainly looked dignified."
"And you look like a drowned rodent. Weasley, you should keep an eye on this little mongrel, she's going to get herself in trouble."
"Ahh, get out of here, Malfoy!" then she pulled him close by the collar of his shirt and muttered in a very menacing voice, "See you in detention, and do try to put on some clean clothes, Draco, you smell."
Draco almost laughed, then mimicked her tone and said quietly, "Well someone didn't work out her recipe very well. And you smell too, Ginevra, dear. See you later."
Ginny's mouth twitched at the 'dear,' then shoved him away and said, "And don't forget it!"
Draco sneered at her, then the trio, and then stalked away.
Until that point, the audience had stood in shocked silence, but Draco's departure snapped them out of it, and concerned words and ill-conceived threats poured forth in over-abundance. Ginny merely waved them off, and retreated to her dormitory, because truth be told, she did smell.