Ginny's Gift, Chapter 21
Rated: PG-13
Summary: Ginny gives Harry a special birthday present, but the consequences are unexpected.
Over the next week or so, Harry did his best to keep himself occupied so he wouldn't keep dwelling on various subjects, which he found painful to think about. His homework to up a good deal of his time but not enough. In the past, he'd had Quidditch to fill up his remaining free hours, but that had been cancelled.
There was, however, the matter of finding out how much Malfoy knew. Harry had put a great deal of thought into the matter before deciding just how he was going to go about it. Polyjuice Potion seemed like a bad idea. It took too long to make and only lasted an hour. He thought he'd have better luck sneaking into the Slytherin common room in his invisibility cloak. Perhaps he could manage to find Malfoy's dormitory, and if he was lucky, get a chance to go through Malfoy's things. He'd also remembered something else, and that's what had brought him to the Restricted Section of the library.
"Harry, are you in here?"
Harry was just about to take down a copy of Moste Potente Potions, when the voice interrupted him. "Yeah, Ron," he replied in a loud whisper, as Madam Pince was giving Ron the evil eye. Ron was beginning to look a bit happier, Harry thought. He'd been downright subdued ever since he'd heard the news of his brother's death, but perhaps he was beginning to accept it now.
"What are you doing in here?" asked Ron, coming over to him.
"Research," replied Harry, pulling out the volume.
Ron looked over at the title of the book. "What do you need that for? We haven't got any written assignments to do for Snape."
"I know. This is for something else. Here." He handed Ron the book. "You can help me." Maybe Ron would find it helpful to have something else to think about, too.
"What are we looking for?" Ron asked, as Harry selected more books.
Madam Pince was watching them sharply. They may have been seventh years, and as such, permitted to consult the books in the Restricted Section, but that didn't stop the librarian from disapproving.
"Books on potions," Harry replied.
He took a few more tomes, handed them to Ron, who groaned under their weight, and went to a table. When they were seated, Harry explained. "I don't think I mentioned this, but when we were in Wales, Snape hinted to me that he'd been taking some sort of potion to increase his hearing. I want to find out how to make it."
"What do you need that for?"
"To help me spy on Malfoy, find out what he knows."
"Why not just ask Snape about it?"
Harry couldn't believe Ron was suggesting that. "Do you honestly expect Snape to tell me?"
"He might. He didn't dock points from Gryffindor or anything when I asked him about Malfoy."
"I still don't think he'd want me getting involved." Harry scowled and did his best to imitate Snape's silky tones. "Potter, you've been crossing lines ever since your first year. I'm not about to play a part in your crossing any more."
"I suppose you're right," Ron conceded.
An hour later when Madam Pince chivvied them out of the library, they still hadn't found anything useful. Harry didn't protest. He'd managed to access the library after hours in the past, and he could do it again.
"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked, as they made their way back to Gryffindor Tower.
"Common room. She told me she had some sort of project to work on." A silence fell between them, and then Ron spoke again. "Harry, what's up between you and Ginny?"
Harry sighed. Ginny was still giving him the cold shoulder, and he preferred not to think about it. "You heard us, Ron, we had a fight."
Harry hoped the finality in his tone would put an end to it, but Ron persisted. "So? Hermione and I argue all the time. I'm probably going to regret telling you this, but sometimes the making up is the best part."
"I have no idea what I said or did to set her off, but I have, and until she decides to come round and tell me about it, I'm stuck, aren't I?"
Ron put a brotherly hand on Harry's shoulder and shook his head. "Harry, Harry, Harry…"
"You sound just like Lockhart, you know."
Ron looked horrified for a moment. "Listen, mate, in my experience…" Harry rolled his eyes at that. "…you sometimes just have to ask what's set them off. They think it's perfectly obvious, and you ought to be able to read their minds."
"Well, that's just stupid."
"Of course it is, but that's just how it goes."
"But I didn't do anything wrong. Besides, how am I supposed to ask her what she's mad over, if she won't even talk to me?"
"You've got to make her talk back."
"Easy for you to say. You're an expert at winding Hermione up."
Ron grinned. "Yeah, I am rather good at it. I've spent years practising, though."
"How's that going to help me with Ginny?"
"She's my sister. Don't you think I've picked up on a few ways to wind her up? Who do you think I practised on before I met Hermione?" Ron stopped and considered. "Thing with Ginny is, she's stubborn. You have to be persistent. Just keep going at it until she breaks. I warn you, it may take a while, but if you're persistent enough it should pay off in the end."
Something about this still seemed unfair to Harry. "Why should I be the one to make the first move? I didn't do anything wrong!"
Ron shook his head again. "You've got a lot to learn about women."
"And you're such an expert! I think I'll handle this my own way, thanks."
They'd arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady. Ron, who had obviously decided it would be a good idea to let the matter drop, gave the password, and they climbed through into the Gryffindor Common Room. It was full of students, many of them hard at work on their assignments, while others played Gobstones or Exploding Snap. Harry spotted Hermione and Ginny seated at a table alone with their heads together over something. Ron had mentioned Hermione working on a project, but what could she possibly be doing that involved Ginny? Harry impatiently pushed thoughts of a female conspiracy out of his head. This was beginning to border on the ridiculous.
Harry had no pressing desire to go over and say hello. He didn't want to see Ginny look at him coldly, or even worse, get up and leave without a word. But Ron said, "Come on," before heading in the direction of the girls' table, and Harry felt obliged to follow.
Ron strode up to the table and took a seat next to Hermione, deliberately leaning across the books she'd spread out for consultation. Yes, Harry decided, he must be feeling better to be provoking Hermione like that. Ginny didn't even look up, so Harry remained standing.
"What are you doing?" Ron was asking, propping his chin on his hand and looking into Hermione's eyes.
"Ron, get out of the way," she said, irritated. "I told you I'm working on a project."
Harry looked down at the parchment Hermione had been writing on. "Hermione, I thought you dropped Ancient Runes after third year."
"Yes, but I'm having Ginny teach me this alphabet."
Harry looked a bit more closely. From what he could see in the space not occupied by Ron's elbow, it looked nothing like any alphabet he'd ever seen before, runic or otherwise. There was a something beautiful and flowing about the writing, but it was completely incomprehensible to him. He had the incongruous thought that it suited Ginny very well.
"Why do you want to learn this?" Harry asked.
"Come on," said Ron. "This is Hermione. She's not happy unless she's filling her head with all sorts of things none of the rest of us need to know."
Hermione looked hard at Ron. "You never know what might turn out to be important."
"What's important about a load of something that looks like a spider got drunk, fell in your ink bottle and crawled all over the page?"
"I don't know yet, Ron. At the beginning of term, Professor Vector mentioned this famous passage in Arithmancy. It's perfect no matter how you work it out, but it's in an ancient language, and no one knows what it means."
"So you just thought you'd try to work out what no other witch or wizard, including Ginny's Ancient Runes teacher, has ever been able to work out in the past? And for laughs?"
"Well, I thought it would be interesting to try."
"That's my girl. She just loves a challenge."
Harry kept stealing glances at Ginny during this exchange. She seemed to be looking anywhere but at him. How was he supposed to approach her when she so obviously did not want to be approached? Part of him wanted to walk away. It wasn't worth the heartache of having her ignore him. But if he really loved her, shouldn't he prove it by doing something?
"Hello, Ginny." It was the first thing he'd said to her in days.
She finally raised her eyes to his. There was something in her expression that told him she was definitely uncomfortable. "Hi," she whispered before looking away again.
Harry had an urge to reach out to her, take her chin in his hand and force her to look at him, but he couldn't do something like that in the common room in front of everybody. At least she'd responded to him. It was a start.
"Ginny," he tried again. "Why are you doing this?" He knew they shouldn't be discussing this in front of Ron and Hermione, but as long as they had an audience, perhaps she wouldn't freeze him out entirely.
Unfortunately, she must have been thinking along the same lines. "Not now, Harry," she hissed.
"When then?"
"I don't know."
He had no idea what else he could possibly say. If she wasn't willing to talk to him about this, then what could they do? He'd tried and been rejected. Again. It felt as if every time she turned away from him was yet another rejection. At the moment he didn't see much reason in subjecting himself to any more of it. He idly looked at her arm, which was lying on the table, quill still in her hand, the sleeve of her robe pushed back to that it wouldn't trail in the ink. She wasn't wearing the bracelet he'd given her at Christmas.
"Fine then," he said and turned away, feeling Ron and Hermione's eyes on him.
He went up to his dormitory, lay on his bed and drew the hangings. He felt utterly miserable and wished there was some way he could simply turn his feelings for her off. What good was loving her if she didn't return those feelings? The thought became more and more painful, like a weight crushing his chest until he couldn't breathe properly. This business of loving someone and not having her love you in return was absolutely horrible. It gave her a power over him that she could use against him to hurt him as much as she wanted, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
His eyes were filling, but he swallowed hard and willed the tears away. This wasn't worth crying over, he told himself sternly. If he was going to feel anything, then let it be anger, the sort of anger she'd been turning on him. If she could freeze him out, then he could do the same to her.
A noise in the room, like something heavy falling onto the floor, gave him a start. That was odd. The dormitory had been empty, and he hadn't heard anyone else come in. He pulled the hangings on his bed aside and looked about. There, in the middle of the floor, was a book, and Harry knew without even glancing at the cover just which book it was.
"Oh no, you don't," he growled. "There's nothing you can tell me that's going to fix this. So just stay where you belong."
He picked up the book, tempted for a moment to look and see what it had to say. But then he strengthened his resolve. If Ginny was determined to be so stubborn there wasn't anything he could do to change that. She'd just proven it with her behaviour downstairs.
He opened his trunk and dug until he'd reached the very bottom. He was going to bury this book so deeply it wouldn't be able to get out and torment him with advice on patching things up. But while he rummaged about, he noticed another book, one he'd forgotten entirely. It was the one Hermione had given him for his birthday, all about Aurors' tricks for catching dark wizards.
Harry put Dr Zog's Practical Spells for Wizards back in his trunk and took out the other book. He might learn something useful for getting information out of Draco Malfoy in here. It was definitely more appealing then lying and moping about Ginny. He shook himself. No, he wasn't going to think about her anymore. If she wanted him, she knew where to find him. In the meantime, he was going to worry about catching Malfoy.
*
Harry read Aurors' Secrets For Getting the Jump On Dark Wizards every spare moment he got, but he still hadn't finished it by the following Monday. He'd also spent some more time in the library, aided by Ron, looking for the potion that enhanced hearing. Perhaps they were missing Hermione's prodigious research skills--she was still busy learning runes--because they'd been unable to turn it up so far.
Harry hastily grabbed the unfinished Auror book and put it in his bag. He'd planned on reading it in History of Magic class later in the day. He rationalised that the information contained in the book would be much more useful to him than the details of the International Warlock's Council of 1593. He snatched up his bag and hurried off to breakfast.
In Charms class the seventh years were practising some housekeeping charms, which required the classroom to be coated in dust so the Gryffindors could clean it up. Neville, apparently, was allergic to dust, and he began to sneeze periodically almost as soon as he entered the classroom. It didn't help matters that he managed to raise more dust than he eliminated with his incantations.
About the middle of the lesson, he was taken by a particularly violent fit, which sounded like a bomb going off, propelling him backwards onto the table where Harry had left his bag at the beginning of class. Several books fell onto the floor, including, to Harry's horror, Dr Zog's Practical Spells for Wizards, which landed open at Dean and Seamus' feet. Dean and Seamus sniggered over the illustration, which was now revealed. Harry's stomach plummeted, as he recognised it. He'd seen it last summer when he and Ron had caught Hermione looking at the book. They'd been afraid she'd seen it then, and there wasn't much hope she'd missed it this time. The entire class was looking by now. The boys were giving each other knowing looks, Ron's ears had gone red, Parvati and Lavender looked rather intrigued, while Hermione looked disapproving. Red faced, Harry lunged for the book and snatched it up, snapping it shut.
Harry straightened, the book in hand, wishing for a convenient rock to crawl under. There was dead silence in the classroom now but for two sounds: Neville suppressing more sneezes and the clicking of Professor Flitwick's shoes on the floor as he approached. Harry cringed and turned around to face him.
Normally the Charms professor was quite affable and easy going, but now his face was unreadable, as he held out his hand for the book. Harry handed it over without a word. The tiny professor looked at the title, and Harry thought he noticed a brief flicker of surprise in his teacher's eyes. But it was gone too quickly for him to be sure.
"See me after class, Potter," was all he said.
Harry spent the remainder of the class avoiding everyone else's gaze, especially those of the girls. When the bell rang, Ron threw him a sympathetic look, while Harry went over to Professor Flitwick's desk. He was certain he was in for a detention.
"Harry, I'm going to have to ask you not to bring this book to class again."
Harry was relieved but confused at the same time. "But that's just it, sir. I didn't. I mean, I did, but it wasn't on purpose. I had no idea it was even in my bag. It's just, well, that book has a strange tendency to keep turning up, and…"
"May I ask how you came by that book?"
Harry thought quickly. Best to tell as much of the truth as possible. "It was a birthday present."
"I see. Well, see that it remains up in your dormitory next time."
"That's where it was last I saw it. That's what I was trying to say. I didn't put it in my bag. I guess it just got there on its own…"
He trailed off, knowing he sounded ridiculous, but to his surprise, Professor Flitwick was taking it in stride. "Sometimes a good talking to helps. Give it a try. But I'm afraid if it turns up in my class again, I'll have to confiscate it."
Harry wondered whether Professor Flitwick was aiming his words at him, Harry, or the book. Harry took his book, and turned to go.
"Did you hear that?" he asked it as he put it into his bag, feeling stupid for telling it off. "Stay where I put you. I haven't got time to take you back to the dormitory now, so don't try anything funny. And when I do put you back, stay there!"
And he hurried off to catch up Ron and Hermione, hardly knowing how he was going to face Hermione, but knowing he must.
He was late to Herbology, earning him a sharp look from Professor Sprout. Parvati was staring at him speculatively, giving him the impression of a hungry cat about to pounce on a mouse. He glued his eyes to the floor and walked to the back of the greenhouse, where Ron and Hermione were collecting the dew from a giant sundew plant, while Professor Sprout explained the uses of the liquid. It was apparently useful in wart removal among other things. Hermione glared at Harry and moved off, as Harry joined them.
"Wonderful," Harry muttered, picking up a glass vial and beginning to knock droplets off the plant's leaves, being careful not to get his fingers stuck to the plant. If that happened, it would begin feeding on his fingers. "Now she isn't talking to me, either."
"Oh, I expect she'll get over it. What did Flitwick do to you?"
"Nothing. Just told me to keep that book put away. You sure Hermione won't be mad?"
"Nah, she only disapproves of you disrupting class, I think."
"Come on, Ron, after what she saw?"
"Well she knew about the book," Ron said casually.
Harry left his fingers on a leaf a bit too long. "What?" he hissed, painfully tearing his fingers away from the plant. "How did she find out about that?"
"I, erm, had to tell her. She wanted to know how I learned… well, never mind what…"
"Believe me, I don't want to know."
"…And so I had to tell her."
"Well did you mention that the book has a sense of humour?"
"We, erm, didn't quite get to that part. She was more interested in what else I'd learned you see…"
"That's more than I wanted to know, Ron. Do you think you could mention it to her?"
"I'll see what I can do."
The day didn't improve any for Harry when Parvati decided to sit with him at lunch. He did his best to ignore her, but it was difficult when she kept sliding closer to him on the bench. Ginny was sitting on the other end of the table glaring. Harry tried to catch her eye and look confused and apologetic, but she looked pointedly away.
Harry finished his lunch as quickly as he could, partly to get away from Parvati and partly to put the Dr Zog book back in his dormitory. As he got up from the Gryffindor table, he was disappointed to see that Ginny had already left.
As he passed the Slytherin table, Malfoy called out to him, "Hey Potter, got yourself a new girlfriend already? What happened, the free trial run out on the old one, and she started charging for her services?"
Harry froze on the spot, his fingers itching to draw his wand on Malfoy, while the rest of the Slytherin table erupted with laughter, but a glance up at the staff table quickly convinced him this wouldn't be a good idea. Professors Fletcher, McGonagall and Snape had all seemingly overheard the comment and were watching to see what Harry's reaction would be. He consoled himself in the fact that Ginny had already left the Great Hall and so had not heard what Malfoy had said. That, and Harry was sure he'd have the last laugh on Malfoy. It wouldn't be very long now.
"Guess you would know all about that, Malfoy. The only way you can get a girl to look at you is to offer her money, isn't it? Even the desperate ones." Harry cast a sidelong glance at Pansy Parkinson as he said this, remembering how Colin had been able to lure Pansy to the broom shed with the promise of a meeting with Malfoy. He was rewarded by an shriek of outrage from the pug-faced girl. Harry looked back at Malfoy. "See what I mean?" he asked sweetly before stalking off.
Up in his dormitory he discovered the book on Aurors in his trunk. He must have accidentally grabbed the wrong book this morning. But that couldn't be right, he thought. He'd picked up the right book, he was certain of it… unless the Dr Zog book could change its outward appearance as well. He wouldn't put it past this book. He shook his head.
"Just stay where I put you. And no more disguises!"
History of Magic was as boring as ever, but the class was a productive one for Harry. He pulled Ron aside after class.
"I've found the potion," he said.
"What potion?" asked Hermione. She'd apparently decided to talk to him again. Perhaps Ron had had a chance to explain what had happened in Charms class this morning after Harry had left the Great Hall at lunch.
Harry told Hermione how he'd been planning to find out what Malfoy knew. "And I've found the recipe." Harry held up the book Hermione had given him for his birthday. "It doesn't look that bad, actually. We won't even have to break into Snape's private stores. Most of it is herbal. We can get a lot of this out of the greenhouses."
"I don't know," said Hermione, leaning over to look at the list of ingredients. "Do you think Professor Sprout has anything as mundane as marigold?"
In their seven years at Hogwarts, none of them had ever worked with any in Herbology. "She might," said Ron. "If they needed it for potions or in the infirmary. Only if there wasn't any real reason to teach us about it, Sprout wouldn't have pointed it out."
"Neville might know," suggested Harry. Herbology was easily Neville's best subject.
"We can't ask him," said Ron. "He'd get suspicious."
"Well we're not going to find any growing wild this time of year."
"Would you recognise it if you saw it?" asked Hermione.
Harry and Ron exchanged a look before they were forced to admit they wouldn't.
"I know what it looks like," said Hermione. "Mum always has some in her garden. I'll try and spot some next Herbology class."
"Right," said Harry. "Next class we need to keep an eye out for wolf's claw, poke root, mace, coffee berries, marigold and blood root. That's six plants, but if we divide it up between us we might be all right."
"We're not going to try and nick all that under Professor Sprout's nose, are we?" asked Hermione.
"No," said Harry, "but we need to know where it all is so that when we come back we can help ourselves quickly."
"Next Herbology class isn't till Thursday."
"So we can go back Thursday night for the stuff," said Harry. "You and Ron ought to do it, actually."
"Why us?" asked Ron.
"Because if you're caught, you can pretend you were looking for a place to snog, as long as I don't come along. I'll get the rest of it from the students' store cupboards, and if everything goes all right, we can make it the same evening."
*
It was after midnight on Thursday when Harry, Ron and Hermione sneaked back up to Gryffindor Tower with their finished potion. Thanks to the Marauders' Map they'd been able to go about their business of pilfering ingredients and meeting in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom to actually brew the potion without Filch or Mrs Norris catching them.
The common room was empty at this time of night. Harry collapsed into the nearest armchair and drew a vial of sickly green liquid out of his pocket. It had smelled foul while they were brewing it--the brimstone in it had contributed to that--and he was sure it wouldn't taste much better.
"I'm going to try this tomorrow night," he said.
"Why don't we meet in the storage room after supper?" suggested Ron. "We can work out the last minute details then."
The following evening before heading to supper, Harry went up to his dormitory to slip the vial of potion into his pocket along with the Marauders' Map. He folded his invisibility cloak into as small a roll as possible and tucked it into his belt, where it would remain hidden under his school robes. Everything was ready for him to go spy on Malfoy later on.
During the meal, he did his best to ignore Parvati, who was trying to flirt with him again. She'd been chasing him all week, and Harry was getting tired of it. Subtlety wasn't one of Parvati's strong points, apparently, and her hands kept wandering alarmingly close to some rather embarrassing places.
Nearest Harry could work out, she'd decided that he and Ginny had split up, something he was beginning to suspect Ginny herself had come to believe, and he was now fair game. Put together with the sort of books she thought he liked to read, she must have drawn the conclusion he was looking for a girl to try out a few things with.
He shuddered and picked at his supper. Girls were the furthest thing from his mind at the moment. Having a girlfriend had turned out to be more trouble than it was worth. Ginny was sitting higher up the table, pretending not to notice what Parvati was doing. Harry had caught her sending Parvati looks of extreme dislike when she thought no one else was watching.
"You ready?" asked Ron, standing up.
"Yeah," said Harry, rising from his seat, relieved he could finally shake off Parvati.
"Oh, you're not leaving already!" she exclaimed, sounding disappointed.
"Sorry, I've got plans," Harry told her before leaving the Great Hall behind Ron and Hermione.
They were almost to the fourth floor storage room, when Hermione stopped short. "Oh no! I forgot the Omnioculars!"
"What?" said Harry. "We weren't going to use them, were we?"
"You never know, they could come in handy. I'll run back to Gryffindor Tower and get mine. I'll be right back."
Harry looked at Ron and shrugged. "Meet you at the storage room, then," he called after her retreating form.
Harry and Ron went to the storage room to wait for Hermione.
"Parvati seems to fancy you," Ron commented when they were both seated.
Harry let out his breath and ran a hand over his face. "Yeah. Wish she'd leave me alone."
"Maybe we can do something about that."
"Like what? Tell her to s…" Harry stopped as he saw that Ron had drawn his wand. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Sorry, mate, it's for your own good. STUPEFY!"
And Harry knew no more.
A/N: Special thanks go to Paula for helping me come up with the Charms scenario and to Cygnus Crux for helping me think of a good insult for Malfoy to use on Harry. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. Please continue to let me know what you think.
Chapter 22
Summary: Ginny gives Harry a special birthday present, but the consequences are unexpected.
Over the next week or so, Harry did his best to keep himself occupied so he wouldn't keep dwelling on various subjects, which he found painful to think about. His homework to up a good deal of his time but not enough. In the past, he'd had Quidditch to fill up his remaining free hours, but that had been cancelled.
There was, however, the matter of finding out how much Malfoy knew. Harry had put a great deal of thought into the matter before deciding just how he was going to go about it. Polyjuice Potion seemed like a bad idea. It took too long to make and only lasted an hour. He thought he'd have better luck sneaking into the Slytherin common room in his invisibility cloak. Perhaps he could manage to find Malfoy's dormitory, and if he was lucky, get a chance to go through Malfoy's things. He'd also remembered something else, and that's what had brought him to the Restricted Section of the library.
"Harry, are you in here?"
Harry was just about to take down a copy of Moste Potente Potions, when the voice interrupted him. "Yeah, Ron," he replied in a loud whisper, as Madam Pince was giving Ron the evil eye. Ron was beginning to look a bit happier, Harry thought. He'd been downright subdued ever since he'd heard the news of his brother's death, but perhaps he was beginning to accept it now.
"What are you doing in here?" asked Ron, coming over to him.
"Research," replied Harry, pulling out the volume.
Ron looked over at the title of the book. "What do you need that for? We haven't got any written assignments to do for Snape."
"I know. This is for something else. Here." He handed Ron the book. "You can help me." Maybe Ron would find it helpful to have something else to think about, too.
"What are we looking for?" Ron asked, as Harry selected more books.
Madam Pince was watching them sharply. They may have been seventh years, and as such, permitted to consult the books in the Restricted Section, but that didn't stop the librarian from disapproving.
"Books on potions," Harry replied.
He took a few more tomes, handed them to Ron, who groaned under their weight, and went to a table. When they were seated, Harry explained. "I don't think I mentioned this, but when we were in Wales, Snape hinted to me that he'd been taking some sort of potion to increase his hearing. I want to find out how to make it."
"What do you need that for?"
"To help me spy on Malfoy, find out what he knows."
"Why not just ask Snape about it?"
Harry couldn't believe Ron was suggesting that. "Do you honestly expect Snape to tell me?"
"He might. He didn't dock points from Gryffindor or anything when I asked him about Malfoy."
"I still don't think he'd want me getting involved." Harry scowled and did his best to imitate Snape's silky tones. "Potter, you've been crossing lines ever since your first year. I'm not about to play a part in your crossing any more."
"I suppose you're right," Ron conceded.
An hour later when Madam Pince chivvied them out of the library, they still hadn't found anything useful. Harry didn't protest. He'd managed to access the library after hours in the past, and he could do it again.
"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked, as they made their way back to Gryffindor Tower.
"Common room. She told me she had some sort of project to work on." A silence fell between them, and then Ron spoke again. "Harry, what's up between you and Ginny?"
Harry sighed. Ginny was still giving him the cold shoulder, and he preferred not to think about it. "You heard us, Ron, we had a fight."
Harry hoped the finality in his tone would put an end to it, but Ron persisted. "So? Hermione and I argue all the time. I'm probably going to regret telling you this, but sometimes the making up is the best part."
"I have no idea what I said or did to set her off, but I have, and until she decides to come round and tell me about it, I'm stuck, aren't I?"
Ron put a brotherly hand on Harry's shoulder and shook his head. "Harry, Harry, Harry…"
"You sound just like Lockhart, you know."
Ron looked horrified for a moment. "Listen, mate, in my experience…" Harry rolled his eyes at that. "…you sometimes just have to ask what's set them off. They think it's perfectly obvious, and you ought to be able to read their minds."
"Well, that's just stupid."
"Of course it is, but that's just how it goes."
"But I didn't do anything wrong. Besides, how am I supposed to ask her what she's mad over, if she won't even talk to me?"
"You've got to make her talk back."
"Easy for you to say. You're an expert at winding Hermione up."
Ron grinned. "Yeah, I am rather good at it. I've spent years practising, though."
"How's that going to help me with Ginny?"
"She's my sister. Don't you think I've picked up on a few ways to wind her up? Who do you think I practised on before I met Hermione?" Ron stopped and considered. "Thing with Ginny is, she's stubborn. You have to be persistent. Just keep going at it until she breaks. I warn you, it may take a while, but if you're persistent enough it should pay off in the end."
Something about this still seemed unfair to Harry. "Why should I be the one to make the first move? I didn't do anything wrong!"
Ron shook his head again. "You've got a lot to learn about women."
"And you're such an expert! I think I'll handle this my own way, thanks."
They'd arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady. Ron, who had obviously decided it would be a good idea to let the matter drop, gave the password, and they climbed through into the Gryffindor Common Room. It was full of students, many of them hard at work on their assignments, while others played Gobstones or Exploding Snap. Harry spotted Hermione and Ginny seated at a table alone with their heads together over something. Ron had mentioned Hermione working on a project, but what could she possibly be doing that involved Ginny? Harry impatiently pushed thoughts of a female conspiracy out of his head. This was beginning to border on the ridiculous.
Harry had no pressing desire to go over and say hello. He didn't want to see Ginny look at him coldly, or even worse, get up and leave without a word. But Ron said, "Come on," before heading in the direction of the girls' table, and Harry felt obliged to follow.
Ron strode up to the table and took a seat next to Hermione, deliberately leaning across the books she'd spread out for consultation. Yes, Harry decided, he must be feeling better to be provoking Hermione like that. Ginny didn't even look up, so Harry remained standing.
"What are you doing?" Ron was asking, propping his chin on his hand and looking into Hermione's eyes.
"Ron, get out of the way," she said, irritated. "I told you I'm working on a project."
Harry looked down at the parchment Hermione had been writing on. "Hermione, I thought you dropped Ancient Runes after third year."
"Yes, but I'm having Ginny teach me this alphabet."
Harry looked a bit more closely. From what he could see in the space not occupied by Ron's elbow, it looked nothing like any alphabet he'd ever seen before, runic or otherwise. There was a something beautiful and flowing about the writing, but it was completely incomprehensible to him. He had the incongruous thought that it suited Ginny very well.
"Why do you want to learn this?" Harry asked.
"Come on," said Ron. "This is Hermione. She's not happy unless she's filling her head with all sorts of things none of the rest of us need to know."
Hermione looked hard at Ron. "You never know what might turn out to be important."
"What's important about a load of something that looks like a spider got drunk, fell in your ink bottle and crawled all over the page?"
"I don't know yet, Ron. At the beginning of term, Professor Vector mentioned this famous passage in Arithmancy. It's perfect no matter how you work it out, but it's in an ancient language, and no one knows what it means."
"So you just thought you'd try to work out what no other witch or wizard, including Ginny's Ancient Runes teacher, has ever been able to work out in the past? And for laughs?"
"Well, I thought it would be interesting to try."
"That's my girl. She just loves a challenge."
Harry kept stealing glances at Ginny during this exchange. She seemed to be looking anywhere but at him. How was he supposed to approach her when she so obviously did not want to be approached? Part of him wanted to walk away. It wasn't worth the heartache of having her ignore him. But if he really loved her, shouldn't he prove it by doing something?
"Hello, Ginny." It was the first thing he'd said to her in days.
She finally raised her eyes to his. There was something in her expression that told him she was definitely uncomfortable. "Hi," she whispered before looking away again.
Harry had an urge to reach out to her, take her chin in his hand and force her to look at him, but he couldn't do something like that in the common room in front of everybody. At least she'd responded to him. It was a start.
"Ginny," he tried again. "Why are you doing this?" He knew they shouldn't be discussing this in front of Ron and Hermione, but as long as they had an audience, perhaps she wouldn't freeze him out entirely.
Unfortunately, she must have been thinking along the same lines. "Not now, Harry," she hissed.
"When then?"
"I don't know."
He had no idea what else he could possibly say. If she wasn't willing to talk to him about this, then what could they do? He'd tried and been rejected. Again. It felt as if every time she turned away from him was yet another rejection. At the moment he didn't see much reason in subjecting himself to any more of it. He idly looked at her arm, which was lying on the table, quill still in her hand, the sleeve of her robe pushed back to that it wouldn't trail in the ink. She wasn't wearing the bracelet he'd given her at Christmas.
"Fine then," he said and turned away, feeling Ron and Hermione's eyes on him.
He went up to his dormitory, lay on his bed and drew the hangings. He felt utterly miserable and wished there was some way he could simply turn his feelings for her off. What good was loving her if she didn't return those feelings? The thought became more and more painful, like a weight crushing his chest until he couldn't breathe properly. This business of loving someone and not having her love you in return was absolutely horrible. It gave her a power over him that she could use against him to hurt him as much as she wanted, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
His eyes were filling, but he swallowed hard and willed the tears away. This wasn't worth crying over, he told himself sternly. If he was going to feel anything, then let it be anger, the sort of anger she'd been turning on him. If she could freeze him out, then he could do the same to her.
A noise in the room, like something heavy falling onto the floor, gave him a start. That was odd. The dormitory had been empty, and he hadn't heard anyone else come in. He pulled the hangings on his bed aside and looked about. There, in the middle of the floor, was a book, and Harry knew without even glancing at the cover just which book it was.
"Oh no, you don't," he growled. "There's nothing you can tell me that's going to fix this. So just stay where you belong."
He picked up the book, tempted for a moment to look and see what it had to say. But then he strengthened his resolve. If Ginny was determined to be so stubborn there wasn't anything he could do to change that. She'd just proven it with her behaviour downstairs.
He opened his trunk and dug until he'd reached the very bottom. He was going to bury this book so deeply it wouldn't be able to get out and torment him with advice on patching things up. But while he rummaged about, he noticed another book, one he'd forgotten entirely. It was the one Hermione had given him for his birthday, all about Aurors' tricks for catching dark wizards.
Harry put Dr Zog's Practical Spells for Wizards back in his trunk and took out the other book. He might learn something useful for getting information out of Draco Malfoy in here. It was definitely more appealing then lying and moping about Ginny. He shook himself. No, he wasn't going to think about her anymore. If she wanted him, she knew where to find him. In the meantime, he was going to worry about catching Malfoy.
*
Harry read Aurors' Secrets For Getting the Jump On Dark Wizards every spare moment he got, but he still hadn't finished it by the following Monday. He'd also spent some more time in the library, aided by Ron, looking for the potion that enhanced hearing. Perhaps they were missing Hermione's prodigious research skills--she was still busy learning runes--because they'd been unable to turn it up so far.
Harry hastily grabbed the unfinished Auror book and put it in his bag. He'd planned on reading it in History of Magic class later in the day. He rationalised that the information contained in the book would be much more useful to him than the details of the International Warlock's Council of 1593. He snatched up his bag and hurried off to breakfast.
In Charms class the seventh years were practising some housekeeping charms, which required the classroom to be coated in dust so the Gryffindors could clean it up. Neville, apparently, was allergic to dust, and he began to sneeze periodically almost as soon as he entered the classroom. It didn't help matters that he managed to raise more dust than he eliminated with his incantations.
About the middle of the lesson, he was taken by a particularly violent fit, which sounded like a bomb going off, propelling him backwards onto the table where Harry had left his bag at the beginning of class. Several books fell onto the floor, including, to Harry's horror, Dr Zog's Practical Spells for Wizards, which landed open at Dean and Seamus' feet. Dean and Seamus sniggered over the illustration, which was now revealed. Harry's stomach plummeted, as he recognised it. He'd seen it last summer when he and Ron had caught Hermione looking at the book. They'd been afraid she'd seen it then, and there wasn't much hope she'd missed it this time. The entire class was looking by now. The boys were giving each other knowing looks, Ron's ears had gone red, Parvati and Lavender looked rather intrigued, while Hermione looked disapproving. Red faced, Harry lunged for the book and snatched it up, snapping it shut.
Harry straightened, the book in hand, wishing for a convenient rock to crawl under. There was dead silence in the classroom now but for two sounds: Neville suppressing more sneezes and the clicking of Professor Flitwick's shoes on the floor as he approached. Harry cringed and turned around to face him.
Normally the Charms professor was quite affable and easy going, but now his face was unreadable, as he held out his hand for the book. Harry handed it over without a word. The tiny professor looked at the title, and Harry thought he noticed a brief flicker of surprise in his teacher's eyes. But it was gone too quickly for him to be sure.
"See me after class, Potter," was all he said.
Harry spent the remainder of the class avoiding everyone else's gaze, especially those of the girls. When the bell rang, Ron threw him a sympathetic look, while Harry went over to Professor Flitwick's desk. He was certain he was in for a detention.
"Harry, I'm going to have to ask you not to bring this book to class again."
Harry was relieved but confused at the same time. "But that's just it, sir. I didn't. I mean, I did, but it wasn't on purpose. I had no idea it was even in my bag. It's just, well, that book has a strange tendency to keep turning up, and…"
"May I ask how you came by that book?"
Harry thought quickly. Best to tell as much of the truth as possible. "It was a birthday present."
"I see. Well, see that it remains up in your dormitory next time."
"That's where it was last I saw it. That's what I was trying to say. I didn't put it in my bag. I guess it just got there on its own…"
He trailed off, knowing he sounded ridiculous, but to his surprise, Professor Flitwick was taking it in stride. "Sometimes a good talking to helps. Give it a try. But I'm afraid if it turns up in my class again, I'll have to confiscate it."
Harry wondered whether Professor Flitwick was aiming his words at him, Harry, or the book. Harry took his book, and turned to go.
"Did you hear that?" he asked it as he put it into his bag, feeling stupid for telling it off. "Stay where I put you. I haven't got time to take you back to the dormitory now, so don't try anything funny. And when I do put you back, stay there!"
And he hurried off to catch up Ron and Hermione, hardly knowing how he was going to face Hermione, but knowing he must.
He was late to Herbology, earning him a sharp look from Professor Sprout. Parvati was staring at him speculatively, giving him the impression of a hungry cat about to pounce on a mouse. He glued his eyes to the floor and walked to the back of the greenhouse, where Ron and Hermione were collecting the dew from a giant sundew plant, while Professor Sprout explained the uses of the liquid. It was apparently useful in wart removal among other things. Hermione glared at Harry and moved off, as Harry joined them.
"Wonderful," Harry muttered, picking up a glass vial and beginning to knock droplets off the plant's leaves, being careful not to get his fingers stuck to the plant. If that happened, it would begin feeding on his fingers. "Now she isn't talking to me, either."
"Oh, I expect she'll get over it. What did Flitwick do to you?"
"Nothing. Just told me to keep that book put away. You sure Hermione won't be mad?"
"Nah, she only disapproves of you disrupting class, I think."
"Come on, Ron, after what she saw?"
"Well she knew about the book," Ron said casually.
Harry left his fingers on a leaf a bit too long. "What?" he hissed, painfully tearing his fingers away from the plant. "How did she find out about that?"
"I, erm, had to tell her. She wanted to know how I learned… well, never mind what…"
"Believe me, I don't want to know."
"…And so I had to tell her."
"Well did you mention that the book has a sense of humour?"
"We, erm, didn't quite get to that part. She was more interested in what else I'd learned you see…"
"That's more than I wanted to know, Ron. Do you think you could mention it to her?"
"I'll see what I can do."
The day didn't improve any for Harry when Parvati decided to sit with him at lunch. He did his best to ignore her, but it was difficult when she kept sliding closer to him on the bench. Ginny was sitting on the other end of the table glaring. Harry tried to catch her eye and look confused and apologetic, but she looked pointedly away.
Harry finished his lunch as quickly as he could, partly to get away from Parvati and partly to put the Dr Zog book back in his dormitory. As he got up from the Gryffindor table, he was disappointed to see that Ginny had already left.
As he passed the Slytherin table, Malfoy called out to him, "Hey Potter, got yourself a new girlfriend already? What happened, the free trial run out on the old one, and she started charging for her services?"
Harry froze on the spot, his fingers itching to draw his wand on Malfoy, while the rest of the Slytherin table erupted with laughter, but a glance up at the staff table quickly convinced him this wouldn't be a good idea. Professors Fletcher, McGonagall and Snape had all seemingly overheard the comment and were watching to see what Harry's reaction would be. He consoled himself in the fact that Ginny had already left the Great Hall and so had not heard what Malfoy had said. That, and Harry was sure he'd have the last laugh on Malfoy. It wouldn't be very long now.
"Guess you would know all about that, Malfoy. The only way you can get a girl to look at you is to offer her money, isn't it? Even the desperate ones." Harry cast a sidelong glance at Pansy Parkinson as he said this, remembering how Colin had been able to lure Pansy to the broom shed with the promise of a meeting with Malfoy. He was rewarded by an shriek of outrage from the pug-faced girl. Harry looked back at Malfoy. "See what I mean?" he asked sweetly before stalking off.
Up in his dormitory he discovered the book on Aurors in his trunk. He must have accidentally grabbed the wrong book this morning. But that couldn't be right, he thought. He'd picked up the right book, he was certain of it… unless the Dr Zog book could change its outward appearance as well. He wouldn't put it past this book. He shook his head.
"Just stay where I put you. And no more disguises!"
History of Magic was as boring as ever, but the class was a productive one for Harry. He pulled Ron aside after class.
"I've found the potion," he said.
"What potion?" asked Hermione. She'd apparently decided to talk to him again. Perhaps Ron had had a chance to explain what had happened in Charms class this morning after Harry had left the Great Hall at lunch.
Harry told Hermione how he'd been planning to find out what Malfoy knew. "And I've found the recipe." Harry held up the book Hermione had given him for his birthday. "It doesn't look that bad, actually. We won't even have to break into Snape's private stores. Most of it is herbal. We can get a lot of this out of the greenhouses."
"I don't know," said Hermione, leaning over to look at the list of ingredients. "Do you think Professor Sprout has anything as mundane as marigold?"
In their seven years at Hogwarts, none of them had ever worked with any in Herbology. "She might," said Ron. "If they needed it for potions or in the infirmary. Only if there wasn't any real reason to teach us about it, Sprout wouldn't have pointed it out."
"Neville might know," suggested Harry. Herbology was easily Neville's best subject.
"We can't ask him," said Ron. "He'd get suspicious."
"Well we're not going to find any growing wild this time of year."
"Would you recognise it if you saw it?" asked Hermione.
Harry and Ron exchanged a look before they were forced to admit they wouldn't.
"I know what it looks like," said Hermione. "Mum always has some in her garden. I'll try and spot some next Herbology class."
"Right," said Harry. "Next class we need to keep an eye out for wolf's claw, poke root, mace, coffee berries, marigold and blood root. That's six plants, but if we divide it up between us we might be all right."
"We're not going to try and nick all that under Professor Sprout's nose, are we?" asked Hermione.
"No," said Harry, "but we need to know where it all is so that when we come back we can help ourselves quickly."
"Next Herbology class isn't till Thursday."
"So we can go back Thursday night for the stuff," said Harry. "You and Ron ought to do it, actually."
"Why us?" asked Ron.
"Because if you're caught, you can pretend you were looking for a place to snog, as long as I don't come along. I'll get the rest of it from the students' store cupboards, and if everything goes all right, we can make it the same evening."
*
It was after midnight on Thursday when Harry, Ron and Hermione sneaked back up to Gryffindor Tower with their finished potion. Thanks to the Marauders' Map they'd been able to go about their business of pilfering ingredients and meeting in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom to actually brew the potion without Filch or Mrs Norris catching them.
The common room was empty at this time of night. Harry collapsed into the nearest armchair and drew a vial of sickly green liquid out of his pocket. It had smelled foul while they were brewing it--the brimstone in it had contributed to that--and he was sure it wouldn't taste much better.
"I'm going to try this tomorrow night," he said.
"Why don't we meet in the storage room after supper?" suggested Ron. "We can work out the last minute details then."
The following evening before heading to supper, Harry went up to his dormitory to slip the vial of potion into his pocket along with the Marauders' Map. He folded his invisibility cloak into as small a roll as possible and tucked it into his belt, where it would remain hidden under his school robes. Everything was ready for him to go spy on Malfoy later on.
During the meal, he did his best to ignore Parvati, who was trying to flirt with him again. She'd been chasing him all week, and Harry was getting tired of it. Subtlety wasn't one of Parvati's strong points, apparently, and her hands kept wandering alarmingly close to some rather embarrassing places.
Nearest Harry could work out, she'd decided that he and Ginny had split up, something he was beginning to suspect Ginny herself had come to believe, and he was now fair game. Put together with the sort of books she thought he liked to read, she must have drawn the conclusion he was looking for a girl to try out a few things with.
He shuddered and picked at his supper. Girls were the furthest thing from his mind at the moment. Having a girlfriend had turned out to be more trouble than it was worth. Ginny was sitting higher up the table, pretending not to notice what Parvati was doing. Harry had caught her sending Parvati looks of extreme dislike when she thought no one else was watching.
"You ready?" asked Ron, standing up.
"Yeah," said Harry, rising from his seat, relieved he could finally shake off Parvati.
"Oh, you're not leaving already!" she exclaimed, sounding disappointed.
"Sorry, I've got plans," Harry told her before leaving the Great Hall behind Ron and Hermione.
They were almost to the fourth floor storage room, when Hermione stopped short. "Oh no! I forgot the Omnioculars!"
"What?" said Harry. "We weren't going to use them, were we?"
"You never know, they could come in handy. I'll run back to Gryffindor Tower and get mine. I'll be right back."
Harry looked at Ron and shrugged. "Meet you at the storage room, then," he called after her retreating form.
Harry and Ron went to the storage room to wait for Hermione.
"Parvati seems to fancy you," Ron commented when they were both seated.
Harry let out his breath and ran a hand over his face. "Yeah. Wish she'd leave me alone."
"Maybe we can do something about that."
"Like what? Tell her to s…" Harry stopped as he saw that Ron had drawn his wand. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Sorry, mate, it's for your own good. STUPEFY!"
And Harry knew no more.
A/N: Special thanks go to Paula for helping me come up with the Charms scenario and to Cygnus Crux for helping me think of a good insult for Malfoy to use on Harry. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. Please continue to let me know what you think.
Chapter 22