Disclaimer: I own nothing! I own nothing! I own nothing!
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SnitchBoy: ...and then I shoved all the chewing gum inside my cousins new bike helmet. I nearly put my jaw out chewing enough up, but it was worth it when he had to have a chunk of hair cut off! Personally, I thought the bald patch was an improvement...
Harry smiled as he wrote to FireGirl, enjoying the memories of Dudley's screams of anguish as sticky gum coated his hair.
FireGirl: No way! On the subject of hair, I reckon I've topped you: I filled my brothers shampoo bottle with hair removal cream, the strong stuff that burns the hair away really quickly, and when he went to wash his hair... bazinga! Bald brother for the next week until he convinced Mum to grow it back for him. Best prank I've ever pulled!
SnitchBoy: Hahaha, your poor brother!
FireGirl: Trust me, he deserved it. You don't know my brother...
SnitchBoy: That bad?
FireGirl: When I was twelve he took my favourite teddy, one that I'd won in one of those ridiculously hard muggle machines at arcades where you have to try and grab a prize. Well Dad charmed the machine whilst Mum wasn't looking because I really wanted that teddy (Nobody ever wins on those things anyway!). Mum freaked when she found out... Dad had a limp for a week actually... Well anyway, my brother stole it, cut it in half and pickled it. I woke up to find Mr Pookie's head floating in a jar of vinegar on my bedside table. It was traumatising...
Harry spluttered in amusement as he read the sentence, admiring the inventiveness of her family's pranks.
SnitchBoy: You had a teddy called Mr Pookie?
FireGirl: Oh shit. Erm... no?
SnitchBoy: Nothing to be ashamed of!
FireGirl: Bullshit. I'm going to have to judge you if you think a teddy called Mr Pookie is an acceptable form of conversation topic!
SnitchBoy: At least you had teddies that you could give, erm... awesome... names to.
FireGirl: What do you mean? Everyone has teddies as a kid.
SnitchBoy: Not me.
Harry stopped himself. What was he doing? He didn't talk about this to anyone, not even Ron and Hermione. Why was he suddenly spilling out about his childhood to this stranger?
FireGirl: That really sad. Why not?
He had to stop. He didn't want her pity. He was happy with their light hearted chats. He didn't want to ruin it. For the last week they'd been staying up late just talking about simple nothingness and, to Harry, this real honesty was the highlight of his day. No stares, no giggles, just friendly chatting.
SnitchBoy: Ignore me. I'm being boring.
FireGirl: I don't find you boring.
SnitchBoy: Well you should! I kind of like the idea of being boring.
...
Lounging on her bed in her dormitory, Ginny paused her chat with her mystery boy. Her mystery boy. She had to stop that. She didn't own him. She didn't even know him! But for some reason she felt connected to this guy.
All of these conversations were becoming the one thing she looked forward to all day. One of the few people that didn't see a poor, pitiful Weasley, without really seeing her. Not to mention the fact that he was the only male she could converse with without her several older brothers (or the three that were still at Hogwarts at any rate) absolutely destroying him, and mocking her until she wanted to scream.
She shook her head, ridding herself of her internal rant, and flipped back to the chat. Her eyebrows knitted together slightly as she was filled with confusion. What kind of person actually wanted to be boring?
FireGirl: What on earth do you mean by that?
SnitchBoy: I like blending in. I like the thought of standing in a crowd and not even being noticed.
FireGirl: Most people spend their lives trying desperately to not blend in.
SnitchBoy: Well that's pretty much contrary to the story of my life.
FireGirl: You're not like most people, are you?
SnitchBoy: Believe me, I wish I was.
Ginny's eyebrows furrowed even further. He wasn't making any sense, what was so wrong with mystery boy?
FireGirl: I don't understand.
SnitchBoy: Nobody ever does. Let's just say it's nice to talk to someone without the usual reaction.
SnitchBoy is offline.
Slightly panicked at SnitchBoy's sudden departure, Ginny rolled up her Wizardnet parchment and flung herself back into her soft pillows.
Had she said something wrong? Had she questioned him too much? And what the heck had he meant about 'usual reaction'? What was the 'usual reaction' when people saw him?
Curiosity bubbled in Ginny's stomach as she wondered what he'd been talking about, and whether she'd put him off talking to her again. Squeezing her tired eyes together, she forced herself into a restless sleep.
...
Harry anxiously ran a hand through his untameable jet black hair. As soon as he'd ended his conversation with mystery girl he'd immediately regretted it and looked back on chat, only to find she'd already gone offline. He hadn't wanted to message her, he'd probably annoyed her enough already.
Why had he gone into 'poor ickle Potter' mode? He hated feeling sorry for himself, but sometime he just couldn't help it. He should have just stopped after her story about the pickled teddy, laughed and told her how hilarious she was. How much she made him laugh. He didn't want to ruin their nice chats by making her realise he wasn't... normal.
The 'usual reaction'! Now what would she think of him!
...
Ginny settled down into her seat next to Luna in the damp, dingy dungeons in which her potions class would take place.
Snape glided past her, his greasy locks hanging limply, cloak billowing out behind him, giving him the resemblance of an unhygienic over-sized bat. Ginny stifled a giggle, as he shot her a glare that could cut through her soul.
"Books open," He barked in his harsh, nasal tone, "Page 498. Confusing and Befuddlement Drafts."
There was a scurrying as the class rushed to flick to the correc page.
"Similar properties to a confusing concoction, however not to be confused," He said, his voice low and dangerous, "This is a potion for the...magically challenged... among us. Those who lack the capability to conjure a Confundus charm. Yes, that means you Longbottom."
Neville snivelled slightly in the corner of the room, not even daring to make eye contact with the terrifying Potions Master.
"Unfortunately, being held back a year in your potions class classifies you in to the magically challenged category," Snape smirked as Neville's bottom lip quivered in fear and shame, "I wonder what your Grandmother would say".
Neville mumbled something under her breath about being beaten with a walking stick that resulted in a few sniggers from surrounding Slytherins.
"20 points from Gryffindor," Said Snape smugly.
"What for!" Snapped Ginny aggressively, "He hasn't done anything!"
"Silence Weasley," Snarled the Professor, "The key word you are missing there is 'yet'. He hasn't done anything yet. I am merely saving time, as it is certain Longbottom will fail in some way within the hour. Not to worry though, I'll be sure to deduct more if... when it is necessary."
Ginny glared back into Snape's dark, beady eyes. She knew retorting back with a snide comment, or even a well-deserved bat bogey hex would only cause more point loss for Gryffindor.
"If we're quite done, I'd like to know why you all haven't started brewing yet. Get on with it or I'll be deducting more points from all of you," Snape moved quickly to sit behind his desk, conjuring a timer with his wand that immediately starting counting down from one hour, "I think we'll be testing our befuddlement drafts on Longbottom today. Who knows, it might even result in an improvement in his work. I'm quite sure it would be impossible to make it any worse than it already is..."
Neville bowed his head, covering his glowing red cheeks as he set up his cauldron.
"I see he's in one of his sunshine moods today," murmered Ginny glumly as she set about powdering her sneezewort extremely vigorously with her mortar and pestle.
"Isn't he always?" Said Luna as she pounded her sneezewort with aggression almost on level with Ginny's.
"Luna, can I tell you something?" Ginny said reluctantly.
She paused with her powdering, reconsidering for the millionth time whether she was doing the right thing telling Luna about mystery boy. She was finding it impossible to keep him a secret, and she needed some girly advice as to how to handle to situation that arose the other night when her questioning had scared him off.
She poured her finely crushed sneezewort into her cauldron with immediately turned a bright shade of purple. She grabbed her scurvy grass and began chopping it into fine strips, pondering how to explain things to Luna.
"Spit it out Gin," Said Luna, smiling as she focused on tipping her sneezewort neatly into her cauldron, which flickered to a fluorescent orange: A very different colour to Ginny's potion. Ginny shrugged it off, deciding to worry about it later.
"I've using the wizardnet a lot recently," Ginny began slowly, looking at Luna's face for any sign of a reaction.
"I've noticed," Replied Luna, smiling slightly, "You totally ignore the world whenever you use it. You don't even hear me when I try to talk to you."
"Sorry about that," Ginny said, a blush creeping over her cheeks, highlighting the spatter of freckles, "Well, I've been talking to... a guy."
Luna finally looked up, meeting Ginny's eyes, "A boy? Who?"
"That's the hitch; I don't exactly know," Muttered Ginny, ignoring Luna as she rolled her eyes, "All I know is his username."
Luna smiled dreamily and continued to chop her scurvy grass, "And I'm assuming he doesn't know who you are either?"
"Right. It's just that... well we've been talking a lot... and he's kind of different to other guys. You remember when I dated Dean for a bit a few months ago?"
"Of course," Said Luna, a flinch of anger in her eyes, "He was so sleazy to you. I'm glad you're rid of him."
"Me too," Ginny shuddered, remembering the many times Dean tried to push her too far, "Well this guy is odd. He always talks about wanting to 'blend in' and be 'boring'. It's weird."
"Why is that weird?" Said Luna, "Maybe he's just that kind of person. One of the crowd or something..."
The girls both added their scurvy grass before taking their final ingredients, lovage, and started dicing into tiny cubes.
"He mentioned something about how he liked talking to me on the wizardnet, because it meant he didn't get the 'usual reaction'. What could that even mean? And then he just went offline as soon as I started asking!"
Luna stopped dicing her lovage and put down her knife, finally giving Ginny her full attention.
"So he gets a reaction when people see him," She said slowly and thoughtfully, "Maybe he's really ugly?"
"Luna!" Said Ginny indignantly.
"Or mutated... or deformed... or-"
"Luna, I'm sure-"
"Or maybe he's super super hot and people go nuts when they see him?"
Ginny paused, liking this suggestion the most out of Luna's list of possibilities.
"Like a super power!" Continued Luna enthusiastically, "Maybe he's so hot, that people literally lose their minds when they see him. Maybe he's so utterly, scrummily, yummily gorgeous that he-"
Ginny began laughing loudly as Luna continued to get carried away into her dreamland of supernaturally handsome men.
"Miss Weasley," A cold voice sounded behind Ginny, her laughter cutting of as an icy breath froze her light-hearted gigling, "You appear to be finished, or at least you're lack of focus suggests so. I think your potion should be the first for Longbottom to test.
Ginny glanced into her cauldron to see a bubbling, brown mulch solidifying at an alarming rate in the bottom of her cauldron. She shot an apologetic glance at Neville who gulped loudly and turned as white as a ghost.
"Let's see how much you'll be laughing in five minutes Weasley..." Smirked the Professor, and Ginny slouched down into her chair, wishing the floor would swallow her up.
...
Author's Notes: Right, well it's been a while... again. Sorry about that... I seem to have no time at the moment! I hope you enjoy this chapter, please please review! It really motivates me. Next chapter there will be some bitchy plotting, plans for a party, and lots of shenanigans!