Ginny Weasley and The Year of The Snake

Ginny Weasley & The Year of The Snake

Chapter Two ~ Juice, Jam & Sandwiches

Ginny glared up at the crimson canopy above her bed. "I hate mornings," she said to herself. Sighing, she kicked off her blankets and crawled out of bed, the room was empty. Obviously Rose and Becca had already gone down to breakfast. 'They could have waited for me. Oh, right, they're not talking to me, stupid cows,' thought Ginny. She grabbed her clean towel and headed for a quick shower, emerging fifteen minutes later, looking bright and refreshed, dressed in her uniform and her long red hair done into two cute plaits on either side of her head. She stomped down the steps to the common room and out through the portrait hall. She hurried down to the Great Hall, knowing that she probably wouldn't have that much time to eat, and she still had to get her timetable.

The first thing she saw when she entered the Hall was the whole of the Slytherin table laughing uproariously as Draco Malfoy did a ridiculous impression of a fainting fit, she rolled her eyes in disgust. 'Idiot,' thought Ginny.

"There you are Gin, we we're starting to think you were going to sleep in forever," said Fred, motioning for her to come and sit next to him.

"Here's your time table Gin," said George handing it to her, "I told McGonagall I'd give it to you."

"Thanks George," said Ginny taking her timetable from him. "No way!" exclaimed Ginny staring at her timetable with a disgusted look

"What is it?" asked Fred, leaning over her shoulder to see.

"Two lots of double Potions, look," said Ginny, pointing to the offending timetable. There it was, clear as day, Wednesday afternoon, double Potions, Friday morning, double Potions.

"That's got to suck," said Fred.

"Don't worry Ginny, we've got two doubles of McGonagall," said George.

"We do?" asked Fred incredulously.

Ginny smiled at her brother. "Well, I should probably go, don't want to be late for Potions, see you guys at morning tea," she said, grabbing an apple and left the table.

"Hey, Gin, do you have Defence Against the Dark Arts today?" Fred called after her.

"Yes, double, last," yelled back Ginny.

She made her way down the flight of cold stone steps that led to the dungeons where the Potions classroom was. There were already quite a few students standing around waiting for Professor Snape to let them into the classroom.

"Hey, Becca," said Ginny to her friend. Rebecca was a petite little girl with soft, shoulder length brown hair. Rebecca began to open her mouth to say something when Rose elbowed her roughly in the ribs. Becca winced and turned away from Ginny.

"Morning Ginny," said Celeste, coming down the stairs behind Ginny.

"Uh, hi, Celeste," said Ginny nervously. What would her 'friends' think of her talking to a Slytherin? The large door that led into the classroom creaked open and Ginny turned around to go into the classroom, glad that she wasn't going to have to speak to Celeste.

"Phew, I made it," said Colin Creevey in her ear. "Thought I was going to get here too late," he said, grinning at her. "I hope Snape's in a better mood than he was last night, don't you Gin?" he asked. Ginny didn't get a chance to answer because she caught sight of Professor Snape sitting at his desk glaring at his students with his beetle black eyes. Ginny grabbed Colin's arm and pulled him down onto the seat next to her.

"Shh," she whispered to him, putting her finger to her lips and looking back at the Professor, who had now risen out of his seat and was walking towards the seated students.

"Hello children, I hope you've had a refreshing holiday," said Snape's silky voice. "Because, this year, you will have to work very hard in my class, if you wish to pass your exams this year, and believe me, whoever fails will wish they had never been born," he finished icily, glaring around the room, as if daring any of them to contradict him. "Now," he said briskly, "today you will be working on your preparing techniques. I want you to come up here," he pointed to the heavily laden shelves, full of jars, and small wooden boxes along the back wall behind his desk, "collect, either, caterpillars, daisy roots, ginger roots, scarab beetles, snake fangs or, an Abyssinian Shrivelfig. You shall then take your chosen item back to your table, using your books you will find how to prepare your chosen item. Then you will prepare your item, and just in case you have forgotten, Abyssinian Shrivelfigs need to be skinned, not sliced." He stood back and glared at them. "Well! What are you waiting for?" There was a sudden hurried frenzy of students each trying to get to the shelf first to select an item and return to their desks as fast a possible. He turned to where Ginny was sitting. "Weasley, why are you sitting there, did you not understand what I was asking?" sneered Snape.

"Sorry sir, its just that I thought I'd just wait for the others to get theirs before I went and chose one. It's kind of crowded up there, and I thought I'd get my books out and wait till they're done," said Ginny quietly, not daring to look at him but instead busying herself with staring at the table top.

"Well at least one of you is not a sheep, I suppose," said Snape, staring idly at his fingernails. Ginny stared at him in amazement.

"I'm not in trouble?" she asked, before she could stop herself.

"Don't be stupid, Weasley, the less of you up there at once the less likely it is that my shelves will be knocked over," said Professor Snape sharply, turning and walking to his desk.

When everybody had chosen something Ginny went up to the shelves and selected some Daisy roots. Taking them back to the table she sat by Colin, who had taken an Abyssinian Shrivelfig, and began to carefully shred and cut her roots into exactly equal sizes. When she was done she raised her arm to attract Snape's attention.

"Yes, Miss Weasley?"

"What do we do with these once we've finished preparing them, Sir?" she asked.

"Class!" he exclaimed. Everybody looked up at him. "When you're done, bring them up here for inspection and place them in one of the containers on my desk. You can then read the chapter from your book about whatever thing you chose, and I expect five inches on your item by tomorrow's class, everyone got that?" he said. Everybody nodded and Ginny got up and carried her sliced Daisy roots up to his desk, when she reached him she held out her Daisy roots so he could look at them. He eyed them critically for a few moments before saying, "Nicely done, although that one there isn't quite the same size as the others,"

"Sorry, Sir," she said, reaching for a container, pouring her roots into it and placing it gently back on his desk. She had just finished reading chapter four, on daisy roots, when the bell went signalling the end of the class. She'd grabbed her books and had strode out of the door before the others had even packed away the equipment they had been using to prepare their snake fangs, or whatever they had chosen. Her next class was Charms, and she wanted to get there early, so that she could get a seat at the back of the room to avoid Rose and Becca staring at her, like they had been doing in Potions.

~*~

"How was Defence Against the Dark Arts," asked Fred, later on in the common room.

"It was great," said Ginny, smiling happily. "We're doing Doxies currently, and next week we're going to be doing Pixies, isn't Professor Lupin cool?" said Ginny. "I can't wait until our next lesson," she said, picking up her things and going to sit next Hermione to do her homework.

"Oh, hi Ginny," said Hermione, looking up from her Arithmancy homework. "Have a good day?"

"It was okay," replied Ginny, taking out her Potions homework.

"Hermione," began Harry, who was sitting at the opposite side of the table, "a lights just gone on in Hagrid's hut, lets go down and see him."

"Fine, it's not like I was getting much work done anyway," said Hermione, packing up her things and standing up. The three of them made their way through the crowded common room and out of the portrait hole.

Ginny stared after them feeling hurt. 'Not like you're getting much work done? She could have just told me to go away, she didn't have to just leave like that. Doesn't anyone want to talk to me anymore? Apparently not,' thought Ginny, looking around the room. Rose and John Donovan were sitting in a corner talking, Colin was near the fireplace, talking to Becca, who was blushing, and Fred and George were standing behind Oliver Wood with a balloon. Bang! Oliver shot out of his chair like he'd been shot. He started yelling at the twins and Ginny rolled her eyes and went back to her homework.

~*~

Strong, cold hands grabbed her arms roughly and flung her against the wall, her legs gave way and she collapsed onto the floor.

"You stupid child, look what you've done," a man snarled down at her.

"I'm not a child and I'm not stupid," she shouted up at him.

"No, you're not," he said, his cold blue eyes glittering strangely, he reached down and pulled her up against him.

~*~

"Let me go!" shrieked Ginny, sitting bolt upright, still shaking, her robes were soaked in sweat. She couldn't see anything, the room was dark, and she turned around to see the dying remains of the common room fire. "Oh, it was just a dream," she breathed, looking down at her watch, four in the morning. "Will Madam Pomfrey be up this early?" she asked herself, picking her unfinished homework off the floor, where they must have fallen and placing them on the table nearby, before turning and going upstairs to have a shower and put on a clean uniform.

Fifteen minutes later she was downstairs again, in a clean uniform, her hair combed and still damp from the shower. She picked up her books and homework that she'd left on the table and pushed the portrait open so gently, the Fat Lady didn't even wake up. She walked slowly along the corridor until she reached the stone stairs that led down to the sixth floor and jumped down them two at a time, like she used to do at home when she was little. She wandered along the stone corridors and down more stairs, looking at the sleeping portraits that hung along the walls. She turned a corner and spotted the large double doors that led into the Hospital Wing. She glanced down at her watch, four forty, she shrugged and walked towards the doors pushing one of them open very slowly and peering inside. Two long rows of white metal beds with crisp, clean white sheets stood in neat rows down the length of the ward, stopping a few meters away from Madam Pomfrey's office. She couldn't see Madam Pomfrey anywhere, not that she'd be around at this time of morning, but it wouldn't hurt to check. Ginny stepped inside, letting the door swing shut behind her. She was walking up the aisle towards Madam Pomfrey's office when a lump in the bed nearest to her rolled over and sat up. Ginny gasped and jumped back. Draco Malfoy was sitting up in bed, his left arm swamped with bandages, staring bleary eyed at her.

"Weasley?" he asked in astonishment, rubbing his eyes with the palm of his hand. "What on earth are you doing creeping around here at this time of morning?" he asked, glancing at the clock.

"Not that it's any of your business Malfoy, but I was looking for Madam Pomfrey," replied Ginny, angry that he had startled her.

"What do you want her for," asked Draco, yawning widely.

"That isn't any of your business either, Malfoy."

"Well she isn't here, I daresay she's still asleep, like a normal person, and why are you here this early anyway?" he asked suspiciously. "Not up to anything are you?"

"No! I had a bad dream and I thought I'd just get up and see if she was here and anyway, I still have to finish my homework," she said, glaring at him.

"Oooh, did the little Weasel have a bad dream? Aww, how sad," smirked Draco.

"Shut up, Malfoy!" snarled Ginny. Draco looked very taken aback and quickly changed the subject.

"So, what's your homework for, Weasley?" he asked.

'Potions," grumbled Ginny. "Its due first up and I still need to write another inch."

"Really," asked Draco interestedly, "what are you writing about?"

Ginny looked up at him in surprise. "I have to write about all the different potions Daisy roots are in, and why they're used in that particular potion."

"I'm good at potions, can I help?" asked Draco after a few moments.

"Why?" asked Ginny very suspiciously.

"Because, I am incredibly bored and light headed from lack of food, so you better take the offer before I change my mind," growled Draco. "Did I mention I was bored?"

"Fine, but if you tell me something wrong and I fail then you better grow eyes in the back of your head, otherwise," she ran her finger across her neck, "get it?"

"Got it," said Draco.

"So what are you in here for anyway," asked Ginny, sitting herself on the end of his bed and emptying the contents of her schoolbag on his bed.

A pained expression crossed Draco's face. "Do you have to be so messy?" he asked. She glared at him. "Right, well I was viciously attacked by a feral Hippogriff. The giant brought some to Care of Magical Creatures, and one of the Hippogriffs went crazy and tried to attack Goyle, but I threw myself in front of him to save my friend. So-"

"Malfoy, tell the truth," said Ginny rolling her eyes at him.

"Fine! I called it a name and it attacked me. Happy now?"

"Terribly, anyway here's my homework. I just need one more potion and I should be done," she said, handing it to him.

He started to read it but looked up after a few seconds. "How come you didn't know, I would have thought your brother would have told you about me being innocently attacked by a rogue Hippogriff the minute he saw you?"

"Nobody tells me anything these days," she said quietly, not looking at him. Draco didn't say anything, just went back to reading her work.

"Its good, just put in the Shrinking potion and you're done," he said ten minutes later.

"Thanks," said Ginny, taking her work back. "Draco?'

"It's Malfoy to you and yes what do you want now?" he asked.

"How do I know I can trust you?" she asked sceptically.

"Lets just say that if I told you the wrong information I'd be the one cleaning the Slytherin bathrooms with a toothbrush, not Blaise,"

Any further conversation was cut off by Madam Pomfrey who came bustling in through the doors and stopped by his bed. "What are you doing in here Miss Weasley?" she asked.

"I just came by to ask you something," said Ginny, hoping she wouldn't ask what for in front of Malfoy, but she shouldn't have worried because Madam Pomfrey seemed to read her mind.

"Well Miss Weasley, just come in to my office, and we'll leave Mr. Malfoy to rest," she said to Ginny. "Even though he's perfectly well, the spoilt..." Madam Pomfrey muttered, but Ginny didn't manage to catch the rest as the nurse walked past.

Draco stared after her, a shocked look on his face. He turned to Ginny. "Did you hear what she said about me, I'm not well, maybe a tad spoilt, but I'm still dying, can't she see that," said Draco incredulously.

"For goodness sake, Malfoy," said Ginny, picking up her books and bag and following after Madam Pomfrey.

"Ungrateful child, didn't even say thank you for my help," he muttered, flinging himself back on the pillows and hitting his head on the back of the bed.

~*~

Ginny entered the Great Hall after Defence Against the Dark Arts for lunch. She spotted Colin near the middle of the table and started walking over to him but half way there Rose, who was sitting opposite Colin grabbed his arm and pointed in Ginny's direction. He whispered something to Rose and both of them got up, with their plates and walked to the far end of the table. Ginny glared after them, fine if that's the way they wanted to be she could do that just fine too. She picked up a ham and cheese sandwich and left the Great Hall. She was just walking up the marble stairs, eating her sandwich when Celeste came out of the Great Hall with a large tray. There was so much food piled on top of it, it was threatening to fall off.

"Ginny, where are you going?" asked Celeste when she saw her. Ginny turned around. She'd been trying to avoid spending time with any Slytherins when there were people around her, worried about what they would think about her. Now it obviously didn't matter because they weren't going to care anyway, so she decided to answer Celeste, after all Ginny had thought, she was pretty nice the night before last.

"Nowhere, why?" asked Ginny.

"Excellent, can you help me carry some of this, it's really heavy?" asked Celeste walking up the steps to where Ginny stood.

"Err, okay. Why are you carrying food around the castle?" she asked, stuffing the rest of her sandwich in her mouth, pushing her back up onto her shoulder and taking the large plate of sandwiches off the tray.

"I was taking it to Draco, he says Madam Pomfrey won't feed him properly," said Celeste, starting to walk up the rest of the stairs.

Ginny stopped and stared at her. "What?"

"What, what?" asked Celeste, turning around. "Are you coming or not?"

"I suppose so, but why does he need food brought to him?" asked Ginny.

"Because he's in the Hospital wing, didn't you know that?" asked Celeste, walking off again and Ginny hurrying after her.

"Well yeah, but why doesn't she feed him properly?"

"Madam Pomfrey never feeds anybody properly, haven't you ever been sick?"

"Yeah, I have, I just don't ever remember being very hungry when I was in there," said Ginny walking beside Celeste.

"I suppose not," laughed Celeste, "but Draco isn't really sick, he's just staying in there to wind Pansy up, and so Daphne will do his homework for him. Those two girls absolutely worship him, its quite disgusting actually," said Celeste, rolling her eyes.

"Daphne? Is that the one with long chocolate brown hair?" asked Ginny, groaning under the weight of the plate of sandwiches.

"No, that's Cassandra, everyone reckons she has a crush on Phillippe," said Celeste smiling. "Daphne Greengrass is the plain one with black hair, she hangs around with Pansy," said Celeste, pushing open the Infirmary door with her shoulder.

"Thanks," said Ginny, walking inside.

"Oi, Draco, we brought you the food you wanted," said Celeste walking over to his bed and plonking the tray down on his bedside table.

"We," inquired Draco rolling over. "You, again!" he said in surprise when he caught sight of Ginny.

"What do you mean again?" asked Celeste.

"I helped her with her Potions homework this morning," said Draco.

"You did? He did?" asked Celeste, looking at Ginny, who had just put the plate of sandwiches on Draco's lap.

"Jeez, thanks," said Draco sarcastically, picking up a sandwich and stuffing it into his mouth. "Did you have to put it on my lap, I am dying you know," he said through a sandwich filled mouth.

"There's no room left on the table," protested Ginny, indicating the large tray that took up all the whole top of the table.

"How did he help you with your homework?" asked Celeste, determined to know.

"I came in here early this morning to see Madam Pomfrey, I still had to finish my homework and he offered to help," said Ginny, picking up a sandwich and eating it.

"So you did listen to Phillippe," said Celeste admiringly. "Good thing too, I think he was serious about telling Aury it was us and not Blaise who died Pansy's hair white."

"What?" asked Ginny. "Since when was Pansy's hair white, I didn't notice that!"

"Oh no, you see she's put a spell on it so it'll look the usual brown, but she has to do it four times a day," answered Celeste.

"Yeah, she'll have to wait for it to grow out normally," said Draco smirking, and reaching for a glass of Pumpkin juice.

"My god you two eat a lot," said Celeste disgustedly when Ginny was on her third sandwich and Draco was on his fourth.

"It's only because her parents can't afford to feed her properly at home," said Draco spitefully.

"Draco!" exclaimed Celeste.

"You bastard," said Ginny, picking up another sandwich, taking one step closer and squashing it onto his head. Silence descended on the three, both Draco and Celeste were too shocked to move, but as a large blob of strawberry jam oozed down the side of Draco's face Celeste started to laugh hysterically.

"You little bitch," snarled Draco, picking up a sandwich and hurling it at Ginny. Ginny didn't waste a single second, she hadn't lived with six boys her whole life for nothing, jumping forward she picked up the jug of Pumpkin juice and dumped the entire contents of it on Draco's head.

Draco stared up at her in amazement, blinking Pumpkin juice out of his eyes. "I can't believe you just did that, Weasley," he said in shock.

"You know, Ginny, you should be in Slytherin, not Gryffindor," said Celeste, watching Ginny with wide eyes. "You'd fit right in you know."

"Would I?" asked Ginny interestedly. "You know, Tom always said I'd..." her voice trailed of as she realised what she was about to say.

"Who's Tom," asked Celeste.

"No one," said Ginny quickly. She could see Draco staring at her strangely and she suddenly realised he knew exactly who she'd meant. "I have to go," she said abruptly, grabbing her bag and hurrying towards the door. Unfortunately the door swung open before she reached it and in stepped Madam Pomfrey. She stared at Ginny in surprise before she caught sight of Draco and Celeste. Celeste looked completely normal, exactly like she had when she'd entered the Hospital wing, but Draco looked totally different. There were crumbs all over his bed and in his hair, which also had quite a bit of strawberry jam in it too. His sheets and pillows had spots of orange on them from where the pumpkin juice had splashed but his pyjamas were completely soaked in orange.

"Miss Weasley! What is this meaning of this?" questioned Madam Pomfrey, choosing to ask Ginny since she was the closest.

"I, err, well, we," she stammered, turning to Celeste for help.

"We, umm, we brought him some lunch," Celeste finished lamely.

"Never mind, it doesn't matter what you did, I don't care. You will all be given detention!" said Madam Pomfrey angrily.

"But, I'm ill," began Draco.

"I do not care Mr. Malfoy, you will serve your detention when you are well again! Now leave," she said to Celeste and Ginny. "You will need to be bathed Mr. Malfoy," she said to Draco who looked absolutely horrified.

Ginny and Celeste raced for the door. They ran down the hall and stopped under a portrait of a large man eating a cake. "Does she mean she'll be bathing him, or that he'll have to bathe himself?" asked Celeste interestedly.

"No idea, but I don't think I've ever seen her that angry," she said, referring to Madam Pomfrey.

"Look at the time, we should really get to class," said Celeste, looking at her watch. "Do we have the next class together?"

"Yeah, its History of Magic. We'd better go now or we'll be late," said Ginny, walking off.

"Imagine if she does bathe him," said Celeste laughing.

"I'd rather not think about it," said Ginny, smiling.