Reputations

"Ginny! Ginny!" a Gryffindor to her left said as she nudged her sharply in the side. Startled, Ginny sat up.

"Miss Weasley," came the silky voice in front of her. "What is the potion supposed to look like?"

"Uh, liquid?" she replied meekly.

"I am sure that most of the worlds, scholars would agree with you, but would you mind being more specific?" He looked at her for a moment but she didn't reply. "I will take that as a no." Snape turned and swept to the front of the class.

"Wow, you got off lightly," whispered her friend, Ceridon Cate. "You couldn't get detention if you tried!"

The casually made comment seemed to strike home, and Ginny was surprised by how much it affected her. Good girl, Ginny. Perfect girl, Ginny, she thought to herself. In the spur of the moment, she stood up and shouted, "Professor Snape!" He turned to look at her with a mixture of anger and surprise.

"I think the potion should be purple, with orange stripes."

"Sit down Miss Weasley. You missed your chance to impress us all with your knowledge...rather lack of it."

Ceridon smiled. "Told you," she said smugly.

Ginny sighed. Was she really such a good girl that she couldn't even get a detention from Snape? Snape gave out detentions for breathing. "Professor Snape!"

"Yes, Miss Weasley?"

"I've changed my mind; I think the potion should actually be yellow, with pink dots," she tried to stop her voice from shaking.

"Miss Weasley, I am seriously concerned for your health. Perhaps a visit to Madam Pomfrey is in order?"

Just give me detention, she screamed inwardly.

Ceridon tried to control her giggles and Snape glared at her. "Perhaps, Miss Cate, you will find a detention funny, also?"

The smile quickly left Ceridon's face.

"See me after class."

"That's not fair," complained Ginny, when Snape wasn't listening.

Ceridon looked at her. "You're right, it's not! It's you that should have detention."

"I'm destined to be Ginny, goody-two-shoes, forever."

"Spare me the violins. If you're that desperate to change your reputation then get in touch with someone else's inner evil."

"Who?" asked Ginny sceptically.

Ceridon looked thoughtful for a moment. "Malfoy."

"Draco Malfoy? Are you insane? That is such a cliché. Good girl Ginny falls for bad boy Draco."

"Yes, but you won't be falling for him. You'll be using him to shake off your good girl image."

"I'm listening..."Ginny sounded intrigued.

"You get Draco to go out with you, and then you dump him. Voila! Instant bad girl reputation."

"He would never go out with me. I'm just Ginny, the female Weasley."

"Well, we can work on that," Ceridon looked Ginny over; "though it may take some time," she smiled.

"I don't know, it sounds a bit cruel. I wouldn't want to hurt anyone's feelings."

"Rule number one. Always put yourself first."

***

Ginny waited for Ceridon after class. "What happened?" she asked as a sullen faced Ceridon emerged from the classroom.

"He complimented me on my excellent work during the lesson."

Ginny looked surprised. "But I thought..."

"Ginny, I'm joking! He gave me detention."

"Oh," said Ginny, as she started to walk away.

Ceridon grabbed her arm. "Let's walk back this way," she said, as she pulled Ginny in the opposite direction. "I fancy a change of scenery."

"But the Slytherin common room is down there. Oh," she said, her friend's idea suddenly dawning on her, "the Slytherin common room is down there. I really don't want to do this."

"Look, do you want to change your image or not?" said Ceridon in frustration.

"I guess so," replied Ginny, quietly.

"Then come on!"

Ceridon practically dragged Ginny towards the Slytherin common room.

"What do we do now?" asked an uneasy Ginny.

"We try to look as natural as possible," said Ceridon with confidence.

The two girls stood awkwardly outside the common room in complete silence, ignoring amused looks from Slytherins.

"This is getting ridiculous," said Ginny, as she started to leave.

"No, wait," hissed Ceridon and tried to stop Ginny from moving.

Ginny tried to pull away, and fell on the cold ground.

"Ow," she said as she lifted her head from the floor. She was greeted with the sight of a pair of exquisitely polished shoes. She traced the shoes up to the owner. "Ceridon?" Ginny asked, slightly confused. She was worried she may have banged her head. Hard. A hand reached out and helped her to stand up.

"Try not to clutter the hallways, Weasley," said a smooth voice.

Embarrassed, Ginny mumbled a thank you, and watched as Draco and friends sauntered into the common room. Ceridon was nowhere to be seen.

"I'm going to kill her!" muttered Ginny