A Contained Situation

"Oh."

Ginny paused, and squinted down at the fluorescent orange slime that was starting to viciously boil in her cauldron.

"Crap."

She could be wrong, but she was sure that her set of instructions hadn't had a hidden meaning when they had mentioned "a smooth, lavender shade."

In fact, she was positive.

"Crap."

Frantically, Ginny paged through her ratty second=hand potions book in a fruitless effort to find a way to reverse what had obviously gone wrong in her cauldron. Her fellow Gryffindors were starting to inquisitively stare at her potion, which was dangerously bubbling higher with every second. In the back of the classroom, she was sure she could hear Tristan Grant, a particularly nasty Slytherin, sniggering. Wringing her hands, she desperately threw about potions ingredients, hoping that some inspiring dried insect or powder would miraculously appear to solve all of her problems. The beetle wings in her box lay as dull and unrevealing as ever however, and Ginny suddenly realized that she might be in a problem she just couldn't fix.

The potion was starting to slightly spill out over the sides now. She cursed silently and in a moment of self-proclaimed brilliance whipped open her book. Turning to a page that had had some sort of green substance poured over it, Ginny eyes darted across the text. Ah. A magical lid spell- usually meant for speeding along a tiresome boiling process, or keeping in noxious fumes, but Ginny thought that her unconventional adaptation was currently quite excusable. Perfect. Ginny shuffled away from her cauldron nervously as her creation let out a particularly loud hiss. Clearing her throat, at the last second Ginny waved her wand over the cauldron and said in a hushed tone, "Flasitvo Tantem."

Peering between her fingers that had flown to her face right after the words had come out of her mouth, she let out a small triumphant whoop when she saw a transparent shimmering barrier at the top of her cauldron. Thank goodness Snape had chosen that precise moment to fetch a few Doxie Wings from his office. He would have surely taken off points= contained situation or not, it was most definitely a situation.

Sighing, Ginny thanked the gods that she had started to systematically read her textbook for emergency solutions. Potions, to say the least, had never been her best subject. In fact, it was her worst. The purposes of ingredients trickled out of her head like water poured into a bowl with a huge, gaping hole at the bottom. The meanings of clockwise and counterclockwise turns were lost on her; in fact, it had taken her all of first year just to perfect her understanding of stirring clockwise.

Flicking her eyes around the classroom, she observed that almost everyone was bottling up their mixture. She sighed, resigning to her fate. Ginny brutally slammed her book shut, and turned to cauldron, with the full intent of just "scourgifying" the whole mess away.

Ginny gasped when she saw her magical barrier, which was obviously under a great deal of strain and pressure. It had stopped shimmering healthily, and the shield was stretching upwards. Underneath, a solid boiling mass of orange threateningly bubbled. Ginny knew she was in trouble, and when the barrier snapped only a few seconds later, she barely had the time to duck under another desk.

"BOOM." Ginny winced as she imagined orange goo saturating her entire class.

The first thought that flitted through Ginny's mind was that Snape had to have heard that. Indeed he had, because Ginny suddenly heard a familiar male voice screech quite uncharacteristically.

"WEASLEY!" Weakly, Ginny gathered her courage and chanced a look out from under the desk, crawling out.

The face that met her had almost sent Ginny crawling back under. Snape was standing only a few feet away from her, shaking with emotion.

"WEASLEY!" Ginny recoiled, and pulled herself out from under the table. The class was in ruin. The orange mixture didn't to seem to have had any other effect besides dousing the classroom, but trusting her luck, it probably stuck like a...

"WEASLEY!" For the third time, Ginny grimaced. She was in for it. Snape's eyes had that dark, scary glint in them. He was justified for the most part, really, she had been a bit of a klutz this year.

"Six times. Six times Weasley." Snape's voice had gone dangerously low. "Six times in this past three weeks, you have been the cause of a disaster." Students were starting to wriggle out of the various last-second hiding places they had found, and were also gloomily looking at Ginny.

"You have sent two of your fellow housemates to the infirmary, melted a cauldron, lost over a hundred points, earned yourself two months' worth of detentions..." Snape broke off, taking in a deep, rattling breath, "AND NOW YOU HAVE DESTROYED MY CLASSROOM." Whipping around, he faced the rest of the class.

"OUT! ALL OF YOU! NOT YOU WEASLEY!" Snape said accusingly, as if Ginny had had the insolence to have the idea of leaving even occur to her. Ginny bit her lip as the rest of the class filed out. Why was it always her? She had really done it this time.

Snape seemed to grow a few inches as he continued his tirade. "Your accident record is worse than Longbottom's Weasley, and that's saying something. You lack any sort of knowledge or instinct pertaining to the art of potions. Points or detentions are not enough any more Weasley." Ginny looked down at the ground, blinking back tears that were threatening to spill out.

"Obviously, neither of those things seem to have prompted you to change your ways in the slightest, not that I can be surprised. This is the last straw Weasley. Obviously, you are in need of extra help. I am personally unable to find the time or the patience to teach a mind as slow and thick as yours. I will instead assign you a tutor." Snape said cuttingly.

Ginny looked up in surprise. A tutor wouldn't be so bad, perhaps it would even be Hermione, who was a brilliant student after all. In fact, she needed a tutor, and had no problem with Snape assigning one- and not taking off points or giving a detention! This wasn't a punishment at all!

"..And no Weasley, you will not have the pleasure of being tutored by Granger. Obviously, your focus would be more on your friend than your subject. I will instead select someone from my own house who I have enough faith in to stop you from blowing up THIS ENTIRE SCHOOL." Snape whipped himself around and headed for the door to his classroom. "Eight tonight Weasley, and don't be late."

Ginny nodded bleakly and collected her things, which had luckily escaped the blast under her table. Groaning, she picked up her copy of the potions book, which had been out. It was ruined; no spell was going to fix this thing. Her potions kit was ruined too, now spoiled by her "brilliance."

Mum's not going to be happy. Carefully stepping to avoid walking in the mixture, she headed towards the door.

"Oh and Weasley. Fifty points from Gryffindor." Snape's harsh voice rung in the air, self-disgust and recognition of failure set Ginny's head even lower, as she wondered how she would face her classmates.

"Well, undoubtedly, it could have been worse." Colin said cheerfully, helping himself to a generous serving of mashed potatoes.

Colin was a good friend of Ginny's- they had instantly clicked. Ginny had never gotten along with the other girls in her house, having never seen the point of layering cosmetics and gossip. Her very male=influenced up bringing had made her the ultimate tomboy, and she avoided wearing any sort of overly feminine clothing. Pastels and pinks were notably absent from her small wardrobe. The Hogwarts' uniform skirt was almost the only one she had ever worn, and that had been bad enough. She liked the freedom of jeans and a simple morning routine.

Colin however, was practically everyone's friend nowadays. He was unfailing optimistic and helpful, all-around, just a nice guy. Of course, it had also helped that he had grown three inches over last summer and was one of the cutest guys in sixth year. But earlier on, he had been outcasted for his radical, spontaneous behavior. It had started when Ginny had stopped him in the hall second year and apologized for the "incident" the year previous. One thing had led to another, and the two then socially challenged children had quickly bonded. Of course, now Colin had a stream of friends, but Ginny would always be his best friend. Ginny, on the other hand, remained as ungirly as ever, and preferred the company of the guys, but Colin was special.

Ginny groaned. "I've almost lost every single point we won from our last Quidditch game in a matter of weeks! What do you mean, it could have been worse?!" She gloomily poured herself a cup of pumpkin juice.

"Well, look on the bright side- you're still in the advanced Potion's class, due to your miraculous performance during exams last year. If your new tutor shapes you up well enough, you could pull it off again." Colin explained patiently.

Ginny nodded bleakly. Last year, through some miracle, the assigned potion had been the same one Colin used to develop his pictures. Ginny, having watched and helped him prepare it countless times, had passed with flying colors. It had been nothing less than pure luck. Now, she was paying for it. Her horrible potion skills were had changed from bothersome to now dangerous in the advanced class. However, she was determined to pass it. She was above average, or at least passable in all her other subjects- Transfiguration was her specialty. Potions was a dot on her record she wanted to fix. She was determined to fix.

"...did I also mention you're still alive?" Colin also added, halfway through swallowing a gulp of juice. "Whoever this tutor bloke is, I'm sure he or she will be horrible. Snape will probably give you Parkinson. She scored high last year.

Ginny gloomily stirred the soup in her dish. Pansy Parkinson was notorious for picking on Ginny. There had been one episode where Parkinson had turned Ginny's hair puke green for a month. Pansy had only gotten a single detention, of course.

"Or perhaps Grant. He's good, and he's in your class. He'll know the material." Colin added teasingly. Ginny hated Tristan Grant. He was easily the heartthrob of every single girl in sixth year, but Ginny couldn't stand a fiber in his body. Tristan, insulted by Ginny's lack of interest, had been unmercifully cruel over that past three years. He was used to being fawned over, and Ginny was a thorn in his side.

Seeing Ginny's response, Colin laughed. "Oh come, he's so dreadfully handsome. I thought you liked the bad boy type?"

"Magically", a spoonful of potatoes directly in Colin's eye shut him up for the remainder of lunch.

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Ginny lifted a tentative hand, and with delicacy, pulled a book off the shelf. She'd always been excited by books. She wasn't obsessed like Hermione- Ginny would self-combust if she was constantly in the library studying. She went to the library when she needed somewhere quiet. Ever since the incident with the chamber in her first year, she'd felt driven away from the masses. Riddle had marked her somehow, made her different from everyone else. She hadn't felt right. Over the years, Colin had helped drive the emotion away, but all the same, she loved the library. It had been her sanctuary, and it remained so.

This particular book was about The Animigus= Physical and Mental Changes. Ginny was an excellent Transfiguration student. She eagerly studied the subject; it was easily the most fascinating for her. Something attracted her to it, and this year she was planning on approaching McGonagall about becoming an Animigus. She had been researching animals all summer, and had been considering everything from a fox to a weasel. (The weasel idea she had quickly rejected- Malfoy would have had an extra day of Christmas.) However, she was almost certain now that she wanted to be either a cat or a bird of prey. She was leaning towards some of the bigger cats, which seemed appropriate for a Gryffindor. Suddenly, a shadow fell across Ginny.

"Look, it's a Gryffirina." A male voice drawled over her.

Speak of the devil.

"Shove off, Malfoy." She gritted her teeth.

"Well, look. The Weaslette has a bite." Malfoy chuckled under his breath.

"I do believe I told you to go away." The spaces in between the shelves were rather cramped, and Malfoy was leaning right over her. It was making Ginny feel very uncomfortable.

"Gladly, but I do believe you're standing right where my book is, and I'm afraid I'm not leaving till I have that book." He said with mock-politeness, looking down upon her with a sneer. He took a step even closer to Ginny. "So I think it is you who will have to move." Malfoy said rather smoothly.

"Fat chance Ferret, I was here first. You'll just have to wait your turn." Ginny said fiercely, with what she thought was with much more courage than she felt.

"Nice try Weasley, but I don't have that much patience." And without warning, Malfoy had pinned her to the ground with his knee and was now smugly searching the shelf. Ginny squirmed underneath him. This had been completely unsuspected.

"What the hell Malfoy?!" She hissed under her breath. The only thing that was stopping her from yelling was that people might have taken the wrong idea- they were that close.

"What's wrong Weasley? Suddenly scared of the big bad Slytherin?" Malfoy said dismissively, still searching for his book.

"Big and bad my ass. Ever heard of the rule about not hitting girls, you coward?" Ginny scoffed.

"Yes, I have, and I'm afraid that I'm not hitting you in the slightest. I just moved you aside obligingly, being the gentleman I am." Malfoy said with a tone that sounded anything but gallant. Suddenly, Malfoy turned from the shelf. "My book isn't here, and it was three minutes ago. Hand it over Weasley."

"Since when did you have the right to pin me to the ground and then demand me to hand over a library book?! I got it first Malfoy." She said bravely, struggling even harder. Warning signals were going off in her head. She was in a deserted area of the library in Malfoy's control, who was known for his family's dark-alliances.

Malfoy sighed. "Then you leave me no choice." Without any signs of physical exertion, he simply grabbed her wrist and slipped the book out of her grasp. Then, without a second look, he got up and walked away.

"You asshole." She glared at his retreating form. As she collected herself, she let loose such a colorful line of language that she wasn't surprised when a very shocked looking Madam Pince came and told her to leave the library.

As she returned to her dorm, she started to contemplate how weird it had been. Malfoy hadn't even said anything hugely insulting beyond the usual name-calling, which was already out of character. (Ignoring the fact that he had forcefully pinned her to the ground and stolen her book.) There had to be a rule against that. Not to mention, since when did he have an interest in transfiguration- she knew from Harry that Malfoy had never been extraordinary in the subject, just fairly good enough to reach the advanced class. Overall, Ginny was fuming. He had taken her book, god dammit.