(no subject)
Don't worry, I'm not dead!! I've just had a mental few weeks. Exams, trip to South Africa, coursework and other such exciting things.
But here is the first part of the second half of 'of peppers and tiramisu'!
It was thethree weeks laterand Ginny was currently cursing the fact that she hadn’t taken Colin and Luna up on their offer to study together. She had purposely chosen a quiet corner of the library for her studies, hoping in vain that she wouldn’t be disturbed as she struggled with forty inches on the warring factions of the little-known Romanian Goblin Uprising of 1802. No such luck, of course. She had been obliged to share a table with Ernest Humphrey, a pale third year Hufflepuff with an unfortunately unpredictable and loud case of the sniffles, who caused her to jump every twenty seconds as another explosion of mucus exited his nostrils.
Quieter, but just a tad more disturbing, was the third occupant of the table, a Slytherin fifth year. Ginny had never heard him addressed by name, but if she had to guess it would probably have been Damien... maybe Lucius. Something sinister. His appearance was perhaps stereotypical for a Slytherin male; immaculately cut black robes, anonymously attractive, pale to the point of anaemia, slightly scary looking. He was, theoretically, researching the Wolfsbane potion for an upcoming test. In reality, he was concentrating on the object he held in his hands - dressed in a pink cocktail dress, with a bright string of pearls and super-perky smile; a Malibu Barbie whose blonde hair he was fondly combing with an equally pink and miniature brush.
Ginny suppressed the urge to shudder. At her elbow Ernest erupted again and she reminded herself that her legendary Bat Bogey hex was not the answer to everything. She sighed resignedly and leaned back in her chair, stretching her arms above her head and glancing around the library in search of anyone who could take her attention away from the awful essay before her. Unfortunately, the only other people present in the library were a group of seventh year Slytherins lounging around suspiciously close to the restricted section, and her brother Ron, Harry and Hermione, who were in the corner, ostensibly researching their cooking projects. More likely planning something sneaky, judging from their flittering glances and Hermione’s staunchly disapproving look. She concealed a snicker as a comment from Ron caused Hermione to throw one of her books at him. His retaliation consisted of a loud yell of outrage as he fairly launched himself across the table to tickle her.
Neither seemed to have considered the consequences of this; namely the fuming figure of Madam Pince who stalked over and began shrieking at the two. Rolling her shoulders back, Ginny darted a look around the library in search of the eyes watching her back. She nearly fell out of her chair as her eyes met those of Draco Malfoy, sitting at the far end of the library with Blaise Zabini and regarding her pointedly. The corner of his mouth curled into a faint smirk as he realised that he had caught her attention.
Ginny scowled inwardly. Typical. Always appearing when she least wanted him to. Just like the year before when she’d been roped into helping Luna fix up the Halloween banners for the upcoming ball. An insufferably bossy group of prefects had been directing them, and of all people for her and Luna to get paired with, it had to be those two. Not that she’d been bothered or anything, Ginny reminded herself resolutely. Yes, Malfoy definitely wasn’t worth the attention of an independent young woman like herself. Not a bit of it. He was the boy who taunted her brother like a cat taunted a mouse and she’d never really paid him any heed.
But then of course, he’d come back in his sixth year, fully developed Wonder Prick. It seemed the long-awaited shove from his father had finally come now that his N.E.W.T.s were nearing, and had thus begun to focus on his work. That and Quidditch, not to mention strengthening the bonds within Slytherin house. That was another thing the rest of the students noticed. The Slytherins had changed in some indefinable way. Perhaps it was that they seemed to have become more interested in each other. They stopped taunting other students so much, though nothing would ever prevent them from the mirth that Neville Longbottom’s cauldron acrobatics afforded them. The only real exception seemed to be Blaise Zabini, who, Ginny thought to herself, had always been like that.
And on that day, one year ago, as both of them had sauntered over towards Ginny and an oblivious Luna, she couldn’t help wondering, as everyone did, what was going through his mind. They’d kept mockingly quiet until Ginny got fed up with Blaise’s scrutiny of her and demanded, “Do you have a problem, or do you like staring at girls you can’t have?”
Blaise had merely lifted an eyebrow, turning his amused blue eyes to his friend. “I understand,” he had drawled, earning him an unreadable look from Draco. Ginny had opened her mouth to demand an explanation but then Professor McGonagall had appeared and she’d forgotten about it in all the excitement of Halloween and all the activity of exams and summer plans.
And goddamnit if they weren’t both staring at her now, Blaise with quiet amusement, Draco with a characteristic smirk. She narrowed her eyes and fixed Draco with as cool and disinterested a stare as she could muster before looking away dismissively. Who in the name of Merlin did he think he was, checking her out?
“You know if you continue to watch him like that, your brother will catch you and have a heart attack,” the misty voice of Luna Lovegood said in Ginny’s ear. “Which would be such a shame. I’ve always liked Ronald.”
Ginny turned to see Luna’s blank blue eyes fixed on Blaise and Draco’s table as she continued to speak. “But did you notice that one of Blaise’s eyebrows is slightly higher than the other?”
Ginny, used to Luna’s ramblings, took no heed of this. Ten minutes later, after another breathless plunge into the fascinations of goblin history, she found herself totally bored beyond reason and trying to peer across to see if Luna had been right. After five minutes of rather fruitless squinting and neck craning, Ginny gave a frustrated groan.
“Ack. It’s no use. I can’t see from here.”
“It’s perfectly true,” Luna replied in the same vague manner. “And I don’t lie.”
“I didn’t mean that you- ” Ginny began, immediately realising that this was not an accusation but a simple statement of fact. She tried a different tack. “But why are you back so early anyway? I thought you were helping Colin sort out the cooking classroom.”
Luna nodded, appreciating this. “Well yes, I was, but you know Professor Snape. He told me that as I wasn’t the one to nearly burn down his classroom, I could go away and stop hovering like an over-grown dragonfly.”
Ginny raised an eyebrow. “Professor Snape said that?”
“I was paraphrasing, silly.”
“Well whatever he said, he’d better watch his back. I may not have the cunning of his precious inbred Slytherins, but a girl can’t grow up around Fred and George without being thoroughly schooled in the fine art of revenge.”
“I suppose that’s true,” nodded Luna again.
“You bet it’s true. And I’ll tell you another thing; if Draco Malfoy tries to ogle me again I’ll remove his reason for wearing trousers with a very large - ” Ginny stopped mid-sentence.
“Shovel?” suggested Luna brightly. “I’d like to see that.”
But Ginny was looking in horror at the clock.
“Why didn’t you tell me!” she exclaimed, stuffing the work into her grubby satchel. “I’ve got five minutes to get all the way down to the dungeons. I’ll see you later!”
And with that, she grabbed her bag and sprinted out of the library with astonishing speed.