In Which Ginny's Clumsiness Finally Pays Off

Chapter Two: In a Bad Turn of Events

Ginny arrived at the cheerful Great Hall--nervous and uneasy. The ceiling showed a warm, cloudy day ahead, a perfect day for Herbology after two hours of Potions with Snape which is Ginny and Colin´s first subject. Of course, nothing can take Ginny´s mind off the fact that the only person she never really liked who´s family was loathed by her own, is actually the person who has her diary right at that very minute.

"Gin, over here!"

Colin´s voice rose from the loud noise the four houses made. She tried hard to search for a streak of blonde hair which belonged to Colin, beside a pile of dark brown hair which was Neville´s. Helping Ginny, Colin took a picture of her, producing a flash which she followed. After saying hello to the twins and nodding towards Ron´s direction, she squeezed herself gingerly between Colin and Neville and began munching at her chocolate chip muffin immediately as soon as she was comfortable.

"We were just talking about how much trouble we got into just to get your present," Colin ranted on with apparent enthusiasm, as he took a swig from his pumpkin juice. "I had to follow Harry all the time just so I can catch him alone. I figured that if he was alone, he´d be less embarrassed signing a photo. Believe me, it´s hard trying to catch him alone without your brother and Hermione, and if he isn´t with any of them, he´s with some teacher looking all serious. I think they were talking about something. Anyway, he seems to hang around Professor McGonagall an awful lot these days. In a week or so, they´ll announce their engagement."

"Trouble, Colin? Following Harry is all the trouble you got into?" Ginny teased, wriggling her eyebrows. "I mean, no offence there Colin, but don´t you do that all the time? Following Harry I mean."

Neville suddenly had a sudden outburst of laughter that Lavender Brown, who was across from him, was sprayed with fluffy things that came from Neville´s mouth. Ginny suspected it was from the muffin, but she knew it wouldn´t be smart to be telling Lavender that.

Finally getting a hold of himself, Neville started to narrate, "I had to sneak every night into the Owlery to see if your mood plant was okay. I couldn´t risk keeping it inside my room since Ron might see it and start asking questions, and then the next thing I´d see would be everyone knowing that you´ll get a mood plant for your birthday. So I decided to place it in the Owlery, but the problem was that the owls kept on pecking on it, seemed to think that it was rather tasty."

"Then he begged me to build a cage with him where we can keep the plant safe. You really should feel special Ginny, the reason I wasn´t able to hand in my essay for Potions was because I stayed up late with Neville here, building a stupid cage that remarkably looked like a bird´s nest after we were done," Colin remarked, glaring at Neville.

Her best friends fought for a minute, leaving her out of the conversation, which was all to well for her since she was concentrating on Malfoy´s face at the Slytherin´s table. He was far, far away, and sometimes he was blocked by a Ravenclaw or two, but she knew he was there--smirking, talking to Crabbe and Goyle who seem to do nothing but nod, probably discussing her diary entries about Harry and making fun of her with all the insults they could think about. She squinted harder to see if Malfoy was somewhere in there, between the swarm of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw heads, when suddenly, as if on cue, a Ravenclaw stood up, followed by a Hufflepuff moving to the side--revealing Malfoy, right in her face, the whole view only hers.

What startled Ginny was that she was positive that Malfoy was staring at her too. Their eyes met for a second--her brown pair meeting his grey ones, and upon realizing with a sudden jolt that they were actually eye-to-eye, she looked away as fast as she can just as Malfoy took sudden interest to his breakfast. Ending any possible eye contact, the Ravenclaw sat down again, blocking Malfoy from her vantage point.

"What are you mulling about, Gin?" Neville inquired, finally noticing her silence.

"Two guesses what Ron and Harry gave me this year," she challenged, trying hard to forget about the whole eye incident. Of course, it could have been very well a coincidence, and it could be only her imagination, but she was positive he was staring at her direction--as if waiting, like her, to see her face.

"Not again?" Colin moaned, in response to her question.

Ginny forced a laugh.

"Why don´t you just tell Ron that you don´t like frogs so he´d stop giving you frog figurines every chance he gets?" Neville suggested, shaking his head.

"I can´t, both him and Harry are having a great time buying them for me. It seems to me Hermione´s the only sensible person that knows I don´t like frogs that much."

"Why the heck did you day that the frogs in Harry´s boxer shorts were cute anyways?" Colin asked, his eyebrows furrowing.

"You have to understand, Colin, that when you see your crush wearing nothing but froggy boxer shorts in your washroom with your brother behind you, the first thing that any normal girl would probably say is: I love you, you´re so hot. For my case though, since I´m a terribly, terribly abnormal person, those words came out as: I love frogs, they´re so hot."

Colin tsk-tsked beside her while Neville only chuckled. "At least you still got a pretty decent book from Hermione."

"Hello? It´s a book titled: For Witches Who´s Currently Experiencing Unrequited Love. Makes you think, huh?"

Whether Neville´s comment was something bad or good, she never knew for right then and there, a burst of boisterous laughter exploded from the Slytherins, which was a very rare event. Panicking, Ginny turned around to see what was going on, keen to find out if it they were laughing about her. Fortunately, Malfoy and the others looked as if they were laughing at that Parkinson girl, who was fuming with anger as her robes were drenched with liquid that remarkably looked like pumpkin juice.

"Figures," Colin grunted, "the only way Slytherins can have fun is when they´re making fun of other people."

Ginny then sank lower into her seat as she tried to drown visions of Malfoy´s face, sneering at her as he read out each word of her precious diary.

*.*

Ginny was just about to doze off when Professor Snape announced lazily that they will now group in three´s or four´s, to apply what they have just discussed (which Ginny had no idea on) in order to brew a Shrinking Potion.

Colin and Ginny were automatically in one group. A nice Slytherin girl joined them too, who, as Ginny suspects, probably fancied Colin. Either way she was the nicest Slytherin they knew so she was okay.

"Oh, I just ran out of cockroach wings," Colin sighed abruptly.

"Don´t worry, I´ll get a scoop from the cupboard!" Ginny offered as soon as Professor Snape left the class without a word. She wanted to stretch her legs from being cooped up into a chair for so long and besides, she needed some way to wake her brain up.

Dodging bubbling cauldrons, Ginny made it to the cupboard without spilling anyone´s half-made potions. Just as she was about to reach for the spoon to be able to scoop the wings with, someone cleared his throat loud enough for everyone to hear. At first, she thought it was Professor Snape, about to remind her to bring her own ingredients, but when she turned around, she saw that she was wrong.

It was Draco Malfoy.

How he got out of his class, Ginny didn´t know. All she knew was that Malfoy was the last person she wanted to see right now for if there was a class where she can die of embarrassment, it would be a class where she´s sitting with the Slytherins. Bingo.

He was looking at her with a malicious glint in his eyes. All around her, the Slytherins and the Gryffindors stopped working to stare at the most fearful character in Hogwarts. He was older than them, and he had some kind of hold on Snape too, so they couldn´t possibly kick him out of Snape´s class.

Ginny gulped when she saw what was on Malfoy´s right hand.

A bunch of worn-out parchments kept together by a few strings.

Her diary.

"Look what I got," Malfoy taunted viciously, not taking his cold stone-like eyes off hers for even a second, "Weasley´s diary."

At the far end of the room, Ginny saw Colin stiffen with anger, but knowing him, she knew he´ll go as far as rushing to her side and sharing her pain, but never actually grabbing her diary out of Malfoy´s sticky hands.

"Dear diary," he began. Feeling panic surge through every fibre of her body, Ginny scrambled towards Malfoy, screaming at the top of her lungs, "No!"

Everything happened as if in slow motion. Everyone twisted around to see Ginny scuttling to get to Malfoy. She knocked over the cupboard with her arm with a loud bang, spilling all kinds of ingredients into the floor. Her arm bled profusely and to make it worse, her feet slipped over a wet pair of smashed frog liver which sent her colliding towards a hot Slytherin´s cauldron. Screaming in agony as her back burned in pain, she kicked the cauldron hard, sending it towards another cauldron, toppling it over, and then bumping into another and another. The students screamed as they jumped out of the toppling cauldrons way, and as Malfoy hopped away from the disaster, Professor Snape appeared behind him, having just entered the room. It was too late for him to react. It was too late for him to move or escape. The explosion of potions from six different cauldrons met him in full blast, soaking his whole body and his robes, from head to foot, earning a terrified gasp from all the students.

Ginny, still sprawled in the floor, covered with her own blood, some animal´s blood, frog liver, cockroaches and other nasty stuff, didn´t know what was going on. When she heard the crashing of cauldrons though, she was pretty much sure that she was in trouble. She stood up just in time to hear the gasps. She looked around, seeing the mess she made and searched desperately for anyone who was hurt. Fortunately, no one was injured, except for her.

"P-Professor Snape?" She heard the echo of Malfoy´s voice, rising from the deadly silence as he stared on the ground. That was when Ginny noticed that everyone was actually staring at one spot in the floor. Carefully this time, she strode over where Malfoy was stooped, with a nervous look on his face.

She was only a few feet away when she saw a tiny figure, a little smaller than a house-elf, cloaked in black. It turned around and faced her.

She gasped.

"Professor Snape!" she squeaked, realizing that she had been holding her breath for the past few minutes.

"Weasley! What happened to you?" Professor Snape squeaked back, probably noticing that she was covered in blood, his tiny arms across his chest. If everything was in reverse, Ginny would have laughed at his state, but since she knew that it was her fault he had shrunk down to that size, she couldn´t even give a grin.

"Weasley knocked over the cauldrons sir," Malfoy explained beside him, still looking quite fidgety.

Oh, you should fidget, Malfoy, thought Ginny haughtily, clenching her fists, surely, Professor Snape would ask why you´re here first in the first place.

She could see a nerve about to pop in Professor Snape´s neck--she didn´t think anyone saw the Professor as mad as he was now.

Detentions for life?

Most probably.

"You do know, Weasley that this particular advanced Shrinking Potion doesn´t wear off until a month -- for the antidote needs an estimation of 31 days to become fully matured?" Professor Snape wheezed, stressing each word to emphasize the fact that he was going to be shorter than Professor Flitwick for a month.

"Yes," Ginny whispered, hanging her head in shame.

"That´s why I told you earlier to be extra careful, didn´t I, miss Weasley?"

"You did sir, certainly."

"Professor Dumbledore, now," he breathed out frostily. "Creevey! Find Filch and tell him to come here quickly. The rest go back to your common rooms, avoid the potion, I don´t want anyone´s feet or robes to shrink."

Ginny grabbed her bag, not believing her luck, not believing that Snape didn´t punish Malfoy for being in a class he wasn´t supposed to be in, still embarrassed to death, and being very careful to avoid the spilled potion. She was outside the dungeon when she heard footsteps echoing behind her.

She whipped around, expecting to see Colin, a smile forming in the corners of her mouth, but instead, she saw the familiar flash of silvery blonde hair. It was again, Malfoy, with her diary. She eyed her diary, each hope in her heart slowly dissolving into smithereens, knowing Malfoy would never give that back to her, now that he saw what disasters she was capable of doing unto herself.

"Interesting diary, Weasley," he said slowly, following her gaze, "especially the part where you said I looked terribly sexy in black robes."

"I never said anything about that!" Ginny protested, feeling her cheeks reddening furiously. How dare him, she thought, to think himself as anything near sexy!

Malfoy chuckled pleasantly, enjoying himself. "You didn´t really think I´d read this out loud?" He waved the parchments across her face. "Your entries didn´t even start with dear diary. It was actually more in the lines of: Hey, I saw Harry today, he´s so cute."

"I just panicked out there," Ginny reasoned out, mentally kicking herself for not remembering that her entries didn´t start with dear diary and being totally stupid, "I kind of thought you would really read it."

Malfoy groaned. "Please--you don´t interest me."

"Oh," Ginny breathed a sigh of relief. "Well then, if you don´t find me interesting enough--" she stopped suddenly, as she became conscious of the words she just uttered. It didn´t seem very--comfortable.

"Yes?" Malfoy prodded her.

"I just thought that maybe if you didn´t find it interesting, then maybe you could give it back?" she asked anxiously, avoiding his eyes. "Just a suggestion," she added quickly, feeling very nervous.

"It´s still a diary," said Malfoy, sneering, "anyone´s diary is worth keeping."

Ginny groaned silently and began to walk away, but Malfoygrabbed her arm rather hardly. She winced in pain as the arm he just grabbed was the injured one.

"Snape sent me to you, obviously, you don´t know where Dumbledore´s office is," he murmured raising an eyebrow.

Ginny blushed and looked away. His eyes were too--piercing. He smirked at her blushing and let go of her arm. He noticed then that his hand was streaked with blood. He glanced at her robed arm and though it was covered in her robes, the blood still seeped though. He glanced at her pale face.

"Yours?" he asked, indicating the blood.

She nodded.

He smirked and walked ahead of her, mumbling something between the lines of, "go to the hospital wing then". She wasn´t sure.

She trudged behind him, dreading the vivid pictures that suddenly popped inside her head. Now that Malfoy was with her, he would probably tell Dumbledore lies and such--oh, at times like this, Malfoy was sure to be found.

*.*

Ginny now found herself staring at Dumbledore´s sparkling blue eyes as Malfoy went on and on about her, sending in Harry and his friends to tie Snape up into a chair and one by one pour the Shrinking Potion over his head while Malfoy was chained down by the Gryffindors as he screamed and struggled to save Snape but to no avail. Dumbledore nodded all throughout the absurd version of the story, as Ginny continued to concentrate on shrinking herself into the size of a dot.

"And how about the other Slytherins? I suppose they didn´t help as well?" Professor Dumbledoreinquired, a smile forming at his lips.

"Oh, they´re all idiots," Malfoy concluded, nodding his head for emphasis. Ginny sighed audibly, earning her a very angry glare from Malfoy. Surely, Professor Dumbledore wasn´t thick enough to believe all this?

"You may leave now, Mr. Malfoy, I wish to converse with the young lady alone," Professor Dumbledore ordered kindly as he cleaned his half-moon spectacles with his robes.

"To save you from shame I bet," Malfoy whispered to her before he left. Silence filled the headmaster´s office as soon as Malfoy closed the door behind him.

"You d-don´t believe him, do you, Professor?" Ginny stuttered nervously, her legs shaking.

The headmaster laughed airily as he placed his glasses back on. "Of course not, Miss Weasley, although I must recommend young Malfoy to our Writer´s League. I will assume it was all an accident, am I right?"

Ginny narrated everything that happened, although she didn´t know why she carefully left the part where Malfoy entered the scene. She made it look like Malfoy was going to the washroom when she met him, and then asked where the principal´s office was, telling him everything that happened along the way. The mere thought of her asking Malfoy, of all people, to show her the way, and for Malfoy to actually show her the way was more impossible than her and Harry, Ron and Hermione teaming up against Snape. She hoped the professor didn´t notice. She also said that in a hurry to get back to Colin, she knocked over the cupboard which sent her sliding towards a cauldron and that was how the disaster began. By the time she was finished, Professor Dumbledore was frowning.

"This is not good, Miss Weasley. Even if it is an accident, you are still responsible for the damage of school property--such as the school cupboard as well as your classmates´ cauldrons."

"I know," she whispered sadly.

"It´s not within my power to bestow punishment, Miss Weasley. I will ask Professor Snape not to take any points from your House since it was an accident, but besides that, I believe there is nothing I can do."

"What do you mean, Professor?"

"I mean Miss Weasley," and he said this with much sympathy as if he pitied her greatly, "is that your punishment lies on the victim of the Shrinking Potion--Professor Snape."