Chapter Seven: Problems with Potions
Although Ginny's Quidditch skills were stellar as always, her potion-making was still a little bit on the fritz. In the Potions classroom, she tried to mix some dragon dung with moth balls and the whole concoction was a big mess. Professor Slughorn was impressed to see how persistent Ginny was, but was displeased to see how badly her results turned out. "Miss Weasley, I don't mean to speak out of turn, but your potion-making leaves a bit to be desired." "Sorry, Professor, I am trying." "I can see that," Slughorn says, "but I'd hate to have to fail you."
Ginny and Luna were talking when Ginny left the dungeons. "I don't know what's happening, Luna. I'm usually a dab hand at Potions. Now, I'm terribly sucking." Luna suggested, "Maybe you're trying too hard." "Maybe," Ginny inquired, "or maybe I'm not trying hard enough." Luna pondered what she was going to say next, and then after a while, she said, "I think I know what's bothering you."
"Oh, you do, do you?" Luna decided to say, "You're probably just dealing with a lot of emotions." Ginny started to look at her, like the way everyone else looks at Luna. "Do you think you could be just a tiny bit more specific, Luna?" Luna explained to her: "I just mean you're going through everything right now. Because it's the last year of Hogwarts for us, you're depressed about leaving and you're worried if you don't pass, you won't graduate. You also don't know what you'll do after you leave." Ginny was confused about what Luna was saying, but at the same time, she understood. Life at Hogwarts was very interesting for Ginny. For the last seven years of her time here, she had been taken hostage by a diary, she joined a group to take down the Ministry, and she finally got the man of her dreams. She had no idea what she was going to do after Hogwarts. "Yeah, but I still don't know why my potions keep failing." Luna pondered again. "Maybe you turned your cauldron on too high." Ginny chuckled.
Hermione was busy writing her homework in the Gryffindor common room that night, when suddenly, out of nowhere, Nick popped up. "Good evening, Miss Granger!" "Oh!" Hermione was startled. "Hello, Nick."
"And how are we this fine November night?"
"Honestly, I'm swamped with work, as usual, and I'm actually doing too much for once, I think. Other than that, not too bad." "Glad to hear it," Nick beamed. "What about you?" Hermione asked him.
"Well, even though Halloween is over, I still feel like I'm terrifying first-years without even trying."
"But you're a friendly ghost." "That's very kind of you say," Nick told her, "but just the other day, some Ravenclaw girl came up to me and said, 'Ohh! You really are nearly headless!'"
"Oh, that's probably just Willow. I met her just a while ago, she and her sister are very curious. They just need to get to know you a little better." "Hmm," Nick said, "well, I suppose I could try to explain myself to them, but I don't see how they could get used to me." "I didn't at first," Hermione said to him, "but I warmed up to you." Nick was glad to hear this. "Well, that's good of you to say, Hermione. Dear God, look at the time."
"It is very late, isn't it?"
"I'll see you when you've sorted it all out, then. Farewell." He tipped his head. "Good night, Nick."
Ginny was stirring in her cauldron trying to figure out what to put in the potion. When she ran out of ingredients, she went out into the grounds to find some. A little over an hour later, she went back to the dormitory and started to lay down on her bed, just staring at the ceiling. Hermione walked in and noticed her, so she put down her book bag and sat down on her own bed. "Ginny, what are you doing just sitting here alone in the dark?" she asked her. "I lost it, Hermione," Ginny replied. "I lost my stuff." Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Is this about you failing Potions again?"
"I don't know what's gone wrong with me to goof up so many times these past few months." "Ginny, there's nothing wrong with you. You're probably just stressed. I mean, I can understand. It's your final year, and you want everything to be perfect. You're trying to get everything done before graduation day and that's incredibly reasonable."
Ginny listened, and then she sat up. "That's easy for you to say. You didn't have to come back this year, but you did." Hermione told her, "I came back because I wanted to end my time at Hogwarts. We've been over this. Just because I did well in almost all of my subjects doesn't mean you're not doing well, too." Ginny then said to her, "Hermione, you're perfect at everything. I could never be as top-notch as you."
Hermione chuckled and scoffed, "You think I passed all my classes? Ginny, don't you remember my performance in Divination? I was such a mess." Ginny nodded, "Well, that I can understand. Professor Trelawney did kind of get on your nerves." Hermione smiled. "What do you think I'm gonna be doing once we graduate?" Ginny asked her. "Well, what do you really want to do?" Ginny wondered for a moment and then she came up with nothing. Hermione suggested, "Maybe you could write for the Daily Prophet." Ginny scoffed. "Yeah, right, Hermione. The Daily Prophet. Like I could be a writer." "Well," Hermione said, "if you did, you could actually write the truth. People will believe anything an honest person tells them." Ginny thought about this for a minute. "I don't know." Hermione then said to her, "Well, you could at least try."
"I just don't think it's for me, though." "Hey," said Hermione, "you're in charge of your own future. It's your decision." Ginny thought about the her future as soon as the girls went to bed late that night. She wondered what it was gonna be like for her at the Daily Prophet. "Nah."
The next few mornings, Ginny was really struggling to pull through with some of her performances in Potions class. She worked as hard as she could to keep them precise. She was very gentle with what she put into her cauldron, and she kept track of how many ingredients she putting in without its need to puff up smoke. She really struggled to try to put her liquids into the cup and then she tried to do a little mixing. Her Antidote to Common Poisons was coming along greatly. Professor Slughorn was pleased with her progress.
Finally, towards the middle of November, Slughorn was pouring some of Ginny's potion into a vial to see if the color was bright. It was pure. He chuckled. "Splendid work, Miss Weasley. I must say your potion-making has improved."
"Thank you, Professor."
"You're very welcome. Although I do hope this kind of skill remains within the next couple of months. You must be vigilant if you want to succeed."
"Yes, I will. I'll try, professor." "Very good."
Ginny went to the common room feeling proud of herself the next day. Hermione was impressed with what she had told her. "Well, it looks like your stuff wasn't lost after all."
"I just hope it'll stay intact by year's end." Ginny sat down on a sofa cushion. "Ginny, did you see Professor Periwinkle doing anything...suspicious as of late?"
"What, are you still on that? Hermione, I don't think there's anything wrong with her." "Yeah? Well, we'll see." "I don't blame you for having your suspicions, but maybe you should just let this one go." "I don't think I can. Not like this. I have to find out more about her so she doesn't turn her back on us." Hermione was very persistent trying to find out more on Professor Periwinkle. Ginny was starting to worry about this as well, mostly because she fears Hermione might go over the edge and later do something that she might regret.
