Reputations

Ginny rushed outside to the fresh air. She had suddenly lost her appetite and could no longer face the happy chatter in the Great Hall. Hearing footsteps she turned expecting to see Ceridon. "Look, go away Ceri..."

"Hello, Weasley," Draco cut in.

"Leave me alone," she said quietly.

"Sorry, I can't do that. I've arranged for you to have a tutoring session in the Potions classroom in half an hour."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because I'm your tutor," he said smirking. Then he turned and without another word, left her standing there.

Not wanting to return to the Great Hall, she decided she may as well go to the Potions classroom straight away. When she got there the door was slightly ajar. She pushed it open and went in where on one of the desks lay three small bottles. There was also a note. 'Weasley, I may be late, start without me, Draco.'

She picked up the first bottle which was slightly red in colour. "Well," she said quietly, "since this is about making potions I suppose I had better mix them. Then maybe I will be finished before Draco even gets here." She poured the contents of the red bottle into the second one which was a pale blue. The liquid turned green and started to smoke. Without stopping to think she quickly poured some water over it. The water managed to quench the flames but left the liquid looking rather yellow. Hearing voices in the corridor she knocked over the third bottle in distraction.

"What is going on in here?" Snape appeared in the doorway. Draco stood behind him.

"I'm mixing the potions," she said quickly.

Snape stared at her as if she were mad, then his eyes fell on the bottles. His face paled as he rushed to the desk. "No, these took years to make! What have you done?"

"I, I'm sorry, I didn't know. Draco left me a note..."

Snape snatched the note from the desk and read it out. "Dear Ginny, Please accept my apologies, I may be running late. It is of the utmost importance that you do not touch any of the potions until I arrive for they are very precious. Yours, Draco Malfoy."

"It didn't say that," said Ginny helplessly.

"It's here in black and white, girl!" Snape snapped. "Not only did you ignore the note that Draco was kind enough to leave you, but you also ignored the labels on the bottles."

'Labels?' Ginny thought to herself. She looked at the bottles and saw bright yellow labels with black lettering saying 'Fragile. Do not touch.' In smaller letters, which she suspected were only visible to her, appeared 'ha ha'.

"They weren't there either," Ginny exclaimed.

"Miss Weasley, please do not try and talk yourself out of this with such pathetic excuses."

"Ginny," said Draco softly as he stepped into the room, "it's okay. I explained to Professor Snape that you were angry with me because your mother sent you a howler and that you may try and take your revenge. Obviously you were going to try and get me into trouble by ruining these potions. I completely understand. Please don't be too harsh on her, Professor. I must accept some of the blame."

"Nonsense," replied Snape. "Ginny is old enough to take responsibility for her own actions."

"But, sir!" pleaded Ginny.

"Draco, you may go. Ginny, I haven't the patience to discuss this further. I will deal with you at you detention tonight. Now leave!"

Ginny run from the classroom, tears streaming down her face. "Why are you doing this to me?" she whispered.