Despite enjoying the freedom of the Christmas break, Ginny had missed Luna and Colin terribly and was glad to see them back. Colin nearly flattened her in his excitement while Luna gently embraced them both her laughter tinkling.
It wasn't long before they found themselves curled up in an abandoned classroom with a couple of blankets and a picnic made by the elves. Cakes were perfect for storytelling, Luna had told them. It was something in the frosting and boy did she have a story to share. She was animated as ever as she described the events of Yule. Her and her Father had cleared a ring outside free of snow and offered a Yule log back to nature. As they lit the candle they were entranced as a colony of moon frogs joined in their chorus. Their song rumbling with the Earth but as gentle as the wind .
"Daddy and I were just so enchanted we couldn't move and by the time we came to our senses they had already left".
Ginny couldn't help but wonder whether they were just unusually pale garden frogs but Luna just seemed so in awe. She couldn't bring herself to question her quirky friend.
"It would have been lovely to have a photo for the magazine but I guess it wasn't meant to be" she sighed.
Colin rested his hands on her shoulders.
"We'll get the photo one day. I promise".
Ginny didn't get a chance to answer before Luna tackled Colin in a hug knocking them all backwards into a heap. It was good to have friends. However, the New Year was not without its challenges. Buckbeak, the hippogriff who attacked Malfoy, had a hearing coming up in February and Luna was very upset. They had been trying to help Hagrid research old cases but Hermione was rather unhelpful and snappish whenever they tried to approach her to see what she had already done. Their own efforts were rather fruitless. Hermione and Ron had been fighting a lot about Scabbers who Crookshanks apparently kept trying to kill and to top things off Hermione had gotten into a fight with Harry about reporting his suspicious new firebolt. Ginny couldn't blame him. She had nothing against rats but Scabbers was gross - and Crookshanks was a cat. On the other hand, she was quite annoyed with how Hermione had treated Harry like a baby. He could make his own decisions for Merlin's sake. At least treat him like an adult instead of running behind his back to McGonagall! She may have let Tom get into her head a bit, she reflected as she stormed out of the Great Hall. Shouting at Hermione that she just didn't understand quidditch was a touch out of character...
The castle was abuzz in early February. It seemed that dreams of a quiet year were even further out of reach than Ginny had previously thought. Black snuck into the castle once again this time reaching Harry's dorm room before attempting to murder Ron. Ron's screams awoke the whole tower and Black was nowhere to be found. Ron, of course, was lapping up the attention but something about his dramatic re-enactment didn't seem right. Why wouldn't Black move to a different bed ats soon as he realised that the flame of red hair didn't belong to Harry? Did he expect Harry to look more like Lily than James? Why wouldn't he try to kill Harry even though the alarm had been raised? He murdered a street of muggles so why would he care? It just didn't make sense. Tom agreed, which was reassuring and worrying in equal measure.
The luck remained sour when they learned that Hagrid lost Buckbeak's hearing. The hippogriff was to be executed. Malfoy was unbearable and Hagrid inconsolable. Luna on the other hand, was angry. It was a sight to see. Her usually dreamy, pearlescent eyes were hard as steel and filled with rage. Colin actually had to hold her back from Malfoy. The boy luckily noticed nothing. It was better that they work from the shadows.
They started to research a way to help Buckbeak escape and get revenge on Malfoy. The latter very important in Tom's option. And in Ginny's. Finding a way to save Buckbeak was difficult. They couldn't risk releasing him before the execution as Hagrid would be blamed and would undoubtably be fired (in the best case scenario) or sent to Azkaban. They would need to be sneaky and release Buckbeak on the day right in front of the Ministry's nose and for that they needed spells. They needed silencing spells, spells to mask their appearance but would be useful in the future as well. Those spells would also be invaluable in enacting their revenge against the Malfoy boy too.
They spent hours poring over books in the library to find what they needed. There was a disillusionment charm which would hide the physical appearance of themselves or objects. For quieting sounds they had quietus which can be used to quieten sounds (the opposite of Sonorus which amplified them). The Calvorio hair loss curse. Cantis caused the victim to burst out into song, the cheering charm caused people to burst into laughter and the notice me not spell. Their plan slowly formed into action. They prepared with excruciating detail and practiced the spells every day until they were excellent not only with a wand but also non-verbally with little wand movement. It required a lot more dedication than they initially anticipated so split the spells between them. With a bit more practice, they were ready... The day of reckoning finally came. There was a buzz of energy under Ginny's skin that she couldn't calm. They had practiced for countless hours and even had the added reason of Draco dressing up as a dementor in the latest quidditch to their list of reasons. Harry's white Patronus mist burst out of his wand and shocked them. Ginny couldn't help but feel proud of her progress. Her Patronus had started to take a small form though she had no idea what it was yet. She was ahead of Harry. Somehow. It had been extremely difficult but she found that clearing the negative thoughts from her mind with occlumency before trying helped and she had definitely felt less of the dementor presence with her dragontooth necklace.
The trio decided to strike on the way to the great hall for the evening meal. Draco, Crabbe and Goyle always went to the library just before and would take a lesser known passageway to the hall. Under heavy disillusionment charms and silencing spells to muffle their movement they snuck up behind the Slytherins. They first cast a notice me not on Draco and a confundus charm on Crabbe and Goyle. They then turned Draco's robes bright pink and removed his hair. They then reapplied the notice me not char for good measure. It was a good job that their silencing charms held, Ginny could feel Luna's sleight form shaking with laughter.
They stalked the Slytherins to the Great Hall and sat on seats with a clear line of sight to their prey. Draco took his accustomed seat in the middle of the table and nobody batted an eyelid at his bizarre appearance. Draco hadn't noticed anything amiss either and if anything, seemed ruffled at the lack of attention he was getting. That would soon change.
They cast a silencing charm and followed up with a charm causing him to burst into song. His eyebrows knit together in confusion, hand reaching towards his wand but they were faster. Then, they cast a silencing charm followed by a charm causing him to burst into song. Ginny removed the notice me not charm and Luna and Colin hit him with Sonorus.
Draco now looked outright panicked but there was nothing he could do. He tried to stand but for some reason he was stuck to his bench. That was unexpected. She found Luna in the crowd her gave her a roguish wink causing her to choke on her drink.
Draco's fellow Slytherin's looked aghast at his behaviour. The hall erupted into laughter. The howls of the Weasley twins could be heard above everyone else. McGonagall was at their table in an instant.
"Missers Weasley! You will undo your spells at once. I am absolutely disgusted".
The twins could barely breath for laugher.
"We swear..."
"It wasn't us"
"But whoever did it"
"Is a genius" they chortled.
McGonagall pursed her lips into a tight line. "I do not believe you for one instant. Detention this weekend!".
The twins didn't protest anymore and made no attempt to control their laughter. Those surrounding them patted their back in appreciation. Even Hermione had a small smile play at her lips which she promptly hid with her textbook. Ginny shared a smirk with Colin and a slight head bob with Luna. They had done it!
Flitwick soon hurried over to cancel the spells and tried to explain to a distraught Malfoy that there was no easy way to grow back his hair. The tiny professor escorted Malfoy out of the hall to catcalls from the Gryffindor table. Harry's eyes were full of mirth and adoration for the twins and Ginny didn't mind them taking the credit. The less people who suspected her, the better. It soon came time to pick the classes for next year. Percy was full of unsolicited advice but she had ready made up her mind and discussed it extensively with Bill. She was going to take Runes and Arithmancy (both needed for curse breaking), Care as she always enjoyed learning about magical creatures (it also didn't hurt that Luna was taking it) and finally Muggle Studies. It would be good to have a more formal course on muggles though she wouldn't admit it to Dad, she suspected that he received a less than stellar score in the subject. Colin at least would be able to tell her what was true and what wasn't. Luna had also decided to take Muggle Studies having little knowledge outside her Dad's own references from one trip to a hippie district in Muggle America, she also opted for Divination and Arithmancy. Her Mum had been a spell caster before an unfortunate experiment so it made sense. Luna claimed that with Divination she would be able to see any potential catastrophes with her spell casting and thus save her from the same fate. Colin joined them in Care and Arithmancy (or Magic Maths as he called it) and, already knowing about muggles joined Ginny for Runes and Luna for Divination. Percy was surprised but also impressed with her choices having expecting her to take the minimum, the like Ron and the twins went unsaid. It was annoying how often she was underestimated. It would be tight but four subjects would fit within their timetables just about. Though they were warned that they would have no free periods. They were confident they could handle it. Even if it was just to spite McGonagall who claimed that she wouldn't be able to manage it but could at least drop some subjects when they proved to be too much. The next Defence class was in an uproar when Professor Snape strode in without any sign of Lupin. Ginny remained seated and stopped herself from rolling her eyes. Snape really did seem to be enjoying himself. There was an extra snap to his voice which was almost playful to the informed observer. There was another uproar when he informed them that they would be covering werewolves.
Werewolves. The realisation dawned on her in less than two pages. That's why Snape hated Lupin so much. Lupin was a werewolf. A danger to the children he claimed to teach. His condition meant that he was unavailable to teach at certain times of the month. As if he needed any further strikes against his competency. Snape's cold black eyes met hers and she blinked in understanding. She needed to be more careful around her shabby Defence professor.
Ginny pulled Luna and Colin aside later that day to discuss the revelation. Luna wasn't surprised in the slightest while Colin burst into laughter upon recalling that one of Luna's guesses for the year was a werewolf with a chocolate addiction. Luna insisted that not all werewolves were bad people but conceded that Lupin wasn't any less dangerous. Ginny latched onto the revelation, she knew something about him wasn't right.
Lupin seemed hurt in the next class when he found out that Snape had given them homework describing how to recognise and kill werewolves. Nobody else in the class had completed it. Not even Colin who claimed that Lupin would be back so there was no point. Ginny was a bit irritated that Colin was right and every word out of Lupin's mouth felt like nails on a chalkboard. The admiration he was getting from the others made her feel sick. A ball of paper hit her in the side of the head and she turned her glare on Colin. He gave her a look to say "really" and she gave him an apologetic smile in return eliciting a little chuckle from her friend.
Ginny had put a lot of thought into the homework. Despite her loathing of the Defence professor she didn't think that he actually deserved death. Though, he certainly shouldn't be teaching either. She added a dichotomy between the two different types of wolves, in her opinion, to her essay. The feral kill-children kind like Fenir Greyback and the mild, trying to get on with normal life kind like Lupin. She was under no delusion that she would be able to kill a transformed werewolf and ended with a brief summary explaining that she knew her weaknesses well enough to not engage one in combat if possible. She would run or hide where she could and if she couldn't, well she would aim to incapacitate them first by blasting out their legs and see how much damage she could do before she was consumed. If she were on a manhunt, she would kill the wolf in their sleep while human. Best not to underestimate them. She hung back after potions and handed in her essay. Snapes eyes betrayed nothing as he took the parchment from her hands. No words were needed. They understood one another perfectly.