A Life More Ordinary

Strange Things are Afoot in the Library

Ginny left potions in a hurry. Goyle had accidentally used the wrong amount of doxy venom in his potion and had succeeded in melting a large hole in his table. The solution had caused his cauldron to spill on the floor and had begun to steadily eat away at the stone floor of the dungeon. Snape had cursed loudly and had begun shouting spells to clean up the mess. The students left in a hurry, wanting to avoid Snape’s wrath. Ginny decided to head for the library and start her History of Magic essay. Professor Binns had assigned it a few days ago and she really needed to finish it.

With those thoughts in mind, Ginny waved goodbye to Ivy and headed in the direction of the library. While she walked there, she remembered the book that Edwina Brocklehurst had leant her earlier that week. It was a trashy romance novel titled Under His Spell that Edwina had bought at Flourish and Blotts over the summer holidays. Edwina had given it to Ginny and told her that it provided excellent relief when you were sick of studying. Ginny had thrust it into her backpack this morning, thinking that she might enjoy reading it when she got to the library. Ginny had briefly read the summary of the book on the back. It had read, ‘Esmerelda Easylove had always hated Barney Bogstone. He was rude, wealthy, and good-looking. He was also quite mysterious and a powerful wizard. One night he appears on her doorstep saying she has been promised as his wife. Can Esmerelda marry Barney?’ ‘Hmmm,’ Ginny thought. ‘Sounds like a good distraction. Why don’t my parents ever promise me in marriage? I have a couple of men in mind that I wouldn’t mind being forced to marry.’ Ginny thought of Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. Ginny had the inkling she might actually love Harry, but knew she was only physically attracted to Draco. Pushing the distracting thoughts of boys aside, Ginny entered the library and looked around.

First she looked for a place to sit that wouldn’t have any other students. She didn’t need the distractions that other people would cause and she didn’t want anyone to catch her reading Edwina’s novel. After wandering around for a few minutes, she found a table by a window that was completely free. Ginny practically sprinted to it and threw her backpack on the table. Ginny sat down and looked around the library to see who was also there. Several tables away, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna, and Neville were sitting at one table. Ginny sighed. As usual, the magical trio was sitting by themselves, excluding others. She wondered if they had invited Neville and Luna to sit with them or if Neville and Luna had invaded their space. ‘Did it really matter?’ she wondered. Well, Ginny wasn’t going to humiliate herself by asking them if she could sit with them. She was going sit here, by herself and get her work done. Ginny hunkered down and pulled out her quill, inkpot, and several rolls of parchment.

Professor Binns had assigned an essay about the effect of dragons on the earlier goblin rebellions. So far, Ginny had only been able to find one battle where a dragon had made a difference. She grabbed her History of Magic textbook and thumbed through the pages to find the passage about Trogdor the Burninator. Ginny cast one surreptitious glance in Harry’s direction before she began writing her essay. Harry was reading a thick book and his brow was furrowed. Ginny thought he looked cute reading that way and was momentarily distracted when she began thinking of other things on which he could concentrate. Just then, Harry looked up and began rubbing his eyes. Ginny, worried that Harry would catch her staring looked down quickly at her essay. Shit! Her inked quill had dripped ink all over her essay, soaking her parchment and creating a large ink stain on her book. It was just like Harry to distract her and ruin her chances of finishing this essay within the next century. Ginny mentally scolded herself for daydreaming about Harry again and crumpled up her parchment. She stood up and looked around for the nearest rubbish bin. Damn! There was another tribulation she would have to deal with. Draco Malfoy had pushed the rubbish bin so it was next to his table. This meant that anyone who wanted throw something away would have to deal with him and his big mouth. Ginny mentally steeled herself for what lay ahead and walked toward his table.

Draco looked up when she stood near him to throw away her essay. He leaned back in his chair and looked her up and down. “Hello, Weasley.”

Ginny wondered when she entered in Draco’s mind as someone fun to tease. It seemed this was her year to deal with his annoying personality. Ginny knew he was great to look at, but a complete pain in the ass. She wondered if she could somehow transplant Dean Thomas’ personality into Draco’s body. “Good morning, Malfoy.” Ginny tried to get away from him with that simple response.

“Not so fast, Weasley. There’s a toll to pay.” Draco leaned across his chair and leered at Ginny.

Ginny was reminded of the troll from that nursery story, the “Three Billy Goats Gruff”. “I’m not paying a toll. It’s not your rubbish bin.” Ginny looked at Draco with her hands on her hips.

Draco was about to make a smart remark when a well-endowed Hufflepuff wandered past his desk, looking for a potions book. He turned around and saw that she was bent over looking for a title. He took his opportunity and pinched her on her bottom. The Hufflepuff squealed and slapped Draco on his face. Ginny took her opportunity and sprinted away, glad that she had not found out what Draco’s toll would be.

Feeling refreshed and full of new energy, Ginny pulled out a new sheet of parchment. Where to begin? Ginny momentarily sucked on the end of her quill and then began to write. ‘Dragons have been used on several occasions in goblin rebellions. Most uses have not been advantageous to the goblins. However, one dragon did make a difference. A goblin, Bonny Bart, had trained a dragon he had raised since it’s hatching to attack muggles. The dragon, called Trogdor the Burninator, created such havoc that the wizards were unable to quell its nasty temper. Wizards were forced to deal with Trogdor, rather than the rebelling goblins. The goblins succeeded in capturing the local village and crowned Bonny Bart as their king.’ Ginny paused in her writing. What had happened after Bonny Bart became king? Didn’t Trogdor eat him? Ginny looked back in her book at the section on Trogdor and Bart. Merlin! The whole section on those two had been soaked in the ink spill. She had no idea what it said. Ginny decided that she’d ask Colin to borrow his book tonight. For now, she’d enjoy some time with Under His Spell. But first she’d have to make sure no one was looking at her. Ginny looked at Draco who was busy inspecting the mark made by the Hufflepuff’s slap in a hand mirror. ‘When did he get a mirror to carry about?’ Ginny wondered. She then looked at the trio’s table. Luna was busy shaking a velvet bag full of rune stones. It appeared she was doing some divination homework. Next to her was Neville who was feeding his toad, Trevor, some flies. Across from Neville and Luna were Ron and Hermione. Ron was pretending to read a book while his hand sat on Hermione’s thigh. Hermione was busy writing on a rather long parchment. Ginny sighed and looked at Harry. Once again, he was concentrating on his large book. Oh well, time to read Under his Spell.

Minutes later, a large clatter, then a burping noise and finally a shriek pulled Ginny from the world of Esmerelda and Barney. She looked over to see Hermione shaking her fist at Neville. From Ginny could gather, the events had happened like this: Neville had been feeding Trevor flies when Luna suddenly overturned her velvet bag of rune stones. The stones had clattered loudly on the table, which frightened Trevor. He had hopped across the desk to Hermione’s side and vomited flies on her essay.

“Neville, you shouldn’t even have Trevor in here. Look what’s happened to my essay!” Hermione was close to tears.

Neville looked cowed and was trying to apologize. “Hermione, I’m very sorry. It was just that Luna dumped her runes on the table and it frightened him. He’s very sensitive.” Neville picked up Trevor and began stroking his warty back. Trevor looked at Hermione and belched again.

Hermione had to be forcibly held back from attacking Trevor by Ron. Ginny noticed that Harry was simply watching the scene. It was at this point when Madame Pince arrived and angrily whipped out her wand.

“What are you doing creating such a disturbance in my library? Mr. Malfoy has complained that your noise isn’t allowing him to study!”

Draco stood behind Madame Pince, grinning from ear to ear. He nodded solemnly at Madame Pince. “It’s true. I think I’ll just go back to the common room and finish my studies.”

Ginny watched as Draco sauntered away and then turned her attention back to the group. Madame Pince was in the middle of kicking out Hermione, Ron, Neville, and Luna. All four had had their book bags levitated out of the library by the furious librarian. She was threatening to write a note to their heads of house. Ginny stifled a giggle and went back to her book. The book had been getting interesting. It seemed Esmerelda was stuck in an abandoned manor home with Barney. Ginny wanted to read what happened next. Tearing her eyes off Harry and the rest, she resumed her reading.

Five minutes later, a loud thump near her caused Ginny to look up. The scowl that had crossed her face quickly disappeared when she looked into bottle green eyes. Harry Potter was looking down at her.

“Um, do you mind if I sit here? It’s just that everyone is gone now and I don’t have anyone to keep me company while I read this.” Harry held up a large tome, An Advanced Guide to Self Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Harry wanted her to keep him company? Ginny could hardly believe her ears. Was it too pathetic that she was excited over this? Ginny quickly decided that it was. She put a bored expression on her face. “Sure. I’m just reading a book.” Ginny looked back down at her book and pretended to start reading again.

A few seconds passed when Harry cleared his throat and started coughing. Ginny looked up at him. “Do you have anything for my throat? I have this cough I can’t get rid of.” He looked at her pleadingly. Ginny nodded and began rifling through her book bag, trying to find a box of lemon drops that she had bought last time she went to Hogsmeade. While she searched, Harry was making conversation. “So, did you hear about the Yule Ball?”

Ginny finally found her box of lemon drops and looked up at Harry again. “I was there at breakfast, remember?”

Harry looked momentarily embarrassed. “Oh yes, I forgot, I’m sorry.”

This annoyed Ginny. ‘He forgot I was there? How could you forget that big fight I had with Ron?’ Ginny worried that Harry was dafter than she gave him credit. “Oh, well, you know. Sometimes we all forget things.” ‘Good conversation, Ginny. Now you sound like an idiot!’ Ginny ducked her head back down and continued to read her book. She tried to keep the book as flat as possible so Harry couldn’t see the title.

“Good book?” God, was he never going to leave her alone? She may have given up on Harry, but she didn’t like looking like a fool in front of him. Why did he want to talk to her so badly?

Ginny shrugged noncommittally. “It’s okay. Just a book a friend lent me.”

“Uh, I have something for you.” Harry began fumbling in his robes and Ginny wondered what he could have had for her. Finally, Harry found what he was looking for and pulled it out of his robe pocket. “Here.” He thrust a small lump wrapped in a handkerchief out to her.

Ginny looked questioningly at it, but took it from his outstretched hand. Carefully, she undid the knot and opened it. In the handkerchief sat a large blueberry scone. Ginny stared at it, wondering why Harry had brought her the scone. “Is this for me?”

Harry shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Well, yeah. I felt bad about laughing at what Ron did. I know how it is when he nicks your food. So I went down to the kitchens this morning and asked them for one. Go on, take a bite.”

Ginny didn’t know whether to cry or kiss Harry. He had gone to all this trouble for her? What was going on? Harry never did anything this nice for her. Ginny squeezed the scone and noticed it was rock hard. Harry was looking at her, waiting for her to eat the scone. Ginny knew if she tried biting into it, she’d break all of her teeth. How was she going to tell Harry that eating this would be like managing hard tack? “I’m not too hungry right now. I saw Goyle eat a slug in potions. It’ll be awhile before I can manage food again.” She smiled at Harry, hoping he knew how much this meant to her.

The light that had previously been in Harry’s eyes briefly flickered. “I understand. Listen, I have to go. I’ll see you at dinner.” Harry began hurriedly gathering his things. Ginny sadly watched him leave. As he exited the library, Ginny wondered what had just happened and how she had managed to mess things up so badly.