Ginny frowned down at her schedule, comparing it with Ron's. It was their 1st day, and already Ginny had been running into trouble. She had woken up late, tripped and fell outside of the Fat Lady, and had, just a few moments ago, slopped most of her orange juice down her shirt. She had muttered a spell, cleaning up the mess, but the whole day had just been a sour event for her. And it was about to get worse.
"Double Potions? With the Slytherins? Just my luck. Oh, well, you too, Ron." She handed Ron his schedule back, standing up and, with a wave to Harry and Hermione (who were frowning down at their schedules), left the Great Hall, along with a small, steady stream of other students. Her first class was History of Magic with Professor Binns; what a bore. She sighed, hitching up her bag and heading towards her class.
Professor Binns droned on about witches and wizards, all long dead, and Ginny didn't care in the least about it. She drifted out of the door, happy when his class was over, then on to Charms.
The whole day passed like this; the only exciting thing was Care of Magical Creatures. She and Hagrid had a lovely chat over a barrel of puffskeins, which were humming quite loudly over the racket of the rest of her class trying to catch the little mustard-coloured fur balls.
Sooner than Ginny had believed possible, she found herself arriving in the dungeons. She put a set expression about her, marching in through the doors and into the jaws of evil.
Snape leered hideously at her; his sallow skin was almost a nauseating colour-Ginny could barely stand to look at the greasy man. She took a seat next to Colin Creevey, who grinned nervously at her and pushed a wisp of his blond hair back. The rest of the Gryffindors and Slytherins filed into the room, the Gryffindors visibly uncomfortable, and the Slytherins calm and laughing at their peers. The dull roar that had filled the room quieted immediately, as Snape smiled at his Slytherins that were sitting in the front row.
"Well, well," he started, his voice almost as greasy as his hair, "it seems we have some of our best Slytherins students here." The ones in the front row grinned wickedly at him, and Snape continued, casting a hateful glance towards Gryffindor, which was mostly in the back. "As for Gryffindor…" he didn't even bother to finish his sentence, twirling his hand and allowing the students to fill in the blank.
"Now. As for your potions. . . Dumbledore.." he said this name violently, like when one tries to dispel a rather nasty smell from one's nose. ". . has decided that all Double Potions classes shall have all of the students split into pairs. I am therefore displeased to inform you that each Slytherin will be assigned a Gryffindor partner, and vice versa." Seeing the crestfallen faces about him, Snape whipped out his roll sheet, calling out names and assigning them for pairs.
"Colin Creevey.. you will be assigned with Michael Jinnis." Colin moved sluggishly towards his new partner, who happened to be a burly, broad-fore headed, stupid looking oaf, sitting on the edge of his seat in dismay. Snape continued down the list slowly, Ginny holding her breath and watching the Slytherins walk, with scowls, towards their partners.
"Ginerva Weasley.." he said her name, looking up, as if confirming a suspicion, then laughing softly. "Another Weasley. I hope you aren't as horrid a potion maker as your siblings, Ginerva." He looked down the list, then tapped at it thoughtfully. "You are with Emmeline Black." Ginny turned nervously, to find herself staring into the face of a lovely blonde girl, with a familiar aristocratic nose and sharp gray eyes. Behind the girl's eyes held a bit of warmth, which Ginny took as a slight relief. She moved towards the girl, following her and sitting down next to her, still rather nervous. Snape lifted a brow at Emmeline, then finished reading the list, finally ending everyone's apprehension. He then flicked his wand, revealing the instructions to a very hard potion, the Draught of Peace, and she heard a few of her classmates muttering apprehensively. "Begin." Snape called, and the students stared at the board, gathering their ingredients and turning to their partners.
The blonde girl, Emmeline, was already beginning to dice a bit of lacewing flies, having said nothing to Ginny. Gin opened her mouth to tell her off, then thought otherwise, and starting fixing her shabby little cauldron, then taking some of the other ingredients and slicing them, dicing them, or whatever happened to be needed. In no time, the silent duo had finished (ahead of the other student, as a matter of fact) and the gir.. Emmeline, gave a sniff before dumping in the beginnings of the ingredients, following the instructions carefully. She wordlessly took control, leaving Ginny to look slightly perplexed, then just watched Emmeline work. It was genius, really, the way she did it; all of her movements were graceful, precise, her gray eyes watching the potion carefully.
Quite before everyone else, Emmeline took a bottle of the light green potion, properly labeled, up to Snape, then marched back, and, with a flick of her wand, had everything cleaned up and put away. She turned to Ginny, and she gave a quick smile, instantly reminding her of Draco. In fact, she looked an awful lot like Draco, too.
"So.. are you.. by any chance.. related to Draco Malfoy? He looks a bit like you. . " Ginny said, then blushed. She had been blushing an awful lot lately. It reminded her of when she used to like Harry Potter. She shivered, feeling quite horrid about that instant in her life.
"Yes. I'm Draco's cousin. But how would you know? You're a Gryffindor. . A Weasley, as a matter of fact, and Draco always tells me how loathe he is of Weasleys…" She had such a charming, melodic voice. Ginny felt quite drawn to the girl, Slytherin though she may be. Then she registered what the girl had said, and felt a bit of a tug inside her. She tried to place it, completely confused about her thoughts lately. They were so.. un-Ginny of her. To like Draco Malfoy! It was completely out of character.
"Well. . yes. But I do have a first name. I'm Ginny Weasley." Ginny flipped back a bit of her hair, looking around at the other groups, who were slowly finishing.
"I'm Emmy. Emmy Black." Ginny's mouth made an 'o'.
"Does that mean.. you're related to Sirius Black, too?" Emmy's eyes suddenly narrowed dangerously. It was obviously a touchy subject.
"Yes. But I cant see how that is any business of yours, Ginny." Suddenly, Snape dismissed the class, and Ginny left hurriedly, afraid that Emmy might share Draco's quickly ignited anger. She saw Emmy and Draco meet outside of Snape's class, and felt a twang of jealously somewhere inside her as they exchanged smiles and brief pleasantries. Suddenly, Emmy said something rather adamantly, and Draco looked her way with a quizzical, brief smile. It disappeared after a moment, but Ginny caught it, and left quickly, a little tremor in her spine.
Somehow, she would manage to enjoy Hogwarts. Somehow.. with someone's help.
