Ginny brought her hair forward and analysed it. Red… a beautiful, flaming red. When sunlight fell on it, it shone… almost like a mirror. It was straight and silky. Ginny pushed back a strand of hair and it came down sliding over her scarlet locks in a natural and beautiful way. It was just too beautiful. Ginny turned to her side, to see the length of her hair and was delighted when she realised that it had grown past her waist and had almost made it to her hips. It was really good. She liked it.
Ginny smiled at her reflection and returned back to cleaning her room. She had been doing it until two hours ago, but just a glance at the mirror had made her leave all her work and she had not realised two hours fly by while she was in front of the mirror. Now, it was almost lunch time and if she would not clean the room now, her mother would be livid. Ginny arranged a stack of old novels on one side of her book shelf. After that, she reached for a small pile of dated Muggle magazines that she liked to browse through, to catch the latest trends in clothes, hair style and make-up. Ginny reached her bookshelf and stood on her toes to keep these beside the latest ones. She placed them neatly and stretched out for the latest ones. Suddenly, she lost her balance and tottered sideways, her hands still gripping thin air. She grabbed the new magazines to prevent herself from falling, but brought them down instead. She fell down with a tiny scream, landed on her back and covered her face with her hands as all the magazines fell on her.
The showering of magazines finally stopped. Swearing under her breath, Ginny pushed them out of her stomach and chest and sat up. She then started looking out for the oldest among them, so that she could arrange them date-wise. Picking up one magazine after the other, Ginny did her work with considerable speed until at last, she placed the latest one. Ginny just stood on her feet to keep the stack in her shelf when the lady on the front page of the top most magazine caught her eye. She was a pretty woman with little make-up and was dressed in jeans and a plain t-shirt. Below her picture, the location of her interview in the magazine was advertised in red font. But what was most attractive about the woman was her hair. It was deep brown in colour and was cut in such a way that the strands of hair fell over each other lightly like feathers, curling outwards gracefully. It looked very beautiful… very stylish. How Ginny wished that her hairstyle was like that! Just then, an idea struck her.
“I’m sorry, Ginny, but you’ve got to be happy with what you have.” Hermione said in a disappointed way. Ginny had asked the girl to help her brew a potion which would grant anything that she would ask for.
“I just need to brew the potion to ask for a really nice haircut, Hermione; just that haircut could get Harry back to me.”
“Looks do not matter to Harry. He loves a person based on what they are inside. He does not believe in outward appearances.”
“I know that, Hermione, but it is really getting difficult for me to cope with that split up. Harry already loves me. It’s just a matter of making up again.”
“I don’t think Harry will get back by merely noting that you look pretty, Ginny. He had his own reasons to stop going out with you. I don’t think he’ll be charmed into getting back with you, even if you win the title of Miss Universe for your looks.”
“Who’s this Miss Universe?”
“Forget that, Ginny, but please understand this: don’t waste your time for such frolicsome things.” Hermione got up from her camp bed and walked over to her suitcase. She opened it and drew out a brilliant set of red coloured dress robes. They looked really beautiful.
Walking back to her bed, Hermione laid her robes on the mattress and ironed them, running her wand through several times.
“It’s easy for you to say all this,” said Ginny, glowering at the brunette. “You’ve got Ron. You don’t have to stare at your reflection in the mirror a hundred times in one day, because Ron is with you even if you happen to look ugly. You have not split up with Ron and you do not have to worry about making it up with him. You’d know if you would be in my place, Hermione.”
The youngest Weasley whirled around and walked to her wardrobe. She opened the door and pulled out dress robes in the colour of pale gold. She too laid them on the mattress of her bed and beckoned to Hermione to iron her robes. Hermione obliged, thinking deeply as she flattened the robes with her wand. When she was finally done with the ironing, she spoke. “No, I’m sorry, Ginny, but I still don’t think you should waste time for such an idiotic thing. Be satisfied with what you possess.”
Ginny gave her another look and folded her robes neatly. Returning them to her wardrobe, she collapsed onto her bed, watching Hermione fold her own robes. There was already a lump in the redhead’s throat.
“I don’t know, Hermione… I really don’t know how to get him back… could you possibly persuade him?” Ginny’s voice faltered as she spoke.
“I’m sorry, Ginny,” Hermione replied. “I cannot interfere in such matters.”
“Can’t you try?”
“No, I’m really sorry, Ginny…”
Ginny sniffed and buried her face in her hands. The tears that had been threatening to overwhelm her, finally released themselves. It took about a minute for Hermione to realise that Ginny was crying. But as soon as it struck her, she came up and sat down beside Ginny. She tried to console the younger girl, patting her back.
“It’ll be all right, Ginny, just wait for the war to be over… Harry will be yours after that.”
“I w-want t-to be with him now, H-Hermione; I love him… I can’t wait for the war to end.”
“Now… that’s impossible, Ginny, you cannot force Harry to get back to you.”
“Please, H-Hermione, just help m-me brew that p-potion. I do not need anything else.”
Except for Ginny’s occasional sobs, there was silence as Hermione considered Ginny’s request. Then at last, she answered. “Okay, Ginny, I’ll help you brew the potion.”
Hermione lit a fire and set up the cauldron on it. She scowled as she picked up the book of potion brewing next to her. The heading of the page she had opened read as ‘The Draught of Desire’. There was also a small introduction below it.
Hermione did not know what had gotten into her to offer help to Ginny in concocting this potion. Her mood was not into it right now. She had wanted to go with the boys to shop for their own dress robes, so that she could see how Ron would look, wearing dress robes. But that chance was gone. She would only be able to see him in the dress robes when the wedding would come.
Hermione just settled herself on the floor, as Ginny came and sat beside Hermione, cross-legged. She gave Hermione a paper bag containing all the ingredients that she had purchased from the apothecary. Hermione emptied them on an old edition of the Daily Prophet that she had spread on the floor.
“Okay,” she said, “first, we have to pour one litre of water into the cauldron and let it boil.”
Ginny nodded and gave Hermione the measuring cup that she had brought with her. The latter filled it with water magically and assiduously poured a litre of the liquid into the cauldron. As the water heated up, Hermione and Ginny went on to cutting and powdering the rest of the ingredients.
“Are you absolutely sure about this potion, Hermione?” Ginny asked, as she juiced aconite leaves.
“Yes,” Hermione said, “This is the easiest desire potion that can be brewed.”
“What’s with the aconite, then? I thought it was poisonous.”
“You’re not supposed to drink the potion, Ginny. The completely concocted potion has to be left to simmer for five minutes. Then there is a sort of wand movement that you have to do to activate it and then ask for your wish, and simultaneously cast the spell while it’s still simmering.”
“Um… so don’t you think You-Know-Who could easily brew this potion and ask for Harry to be dead?”
“If it were so, Ginny, then even Harry could ask for the same thing to happen to Voldemort. But don’t worry, these potions only grant material desires. They cannot grant anything like someone’s death and all that. Actually, the strongest and most complicated desire potion can go only as far as granting wealth.”
Ginny, who was slightly relieved by the fact that the potion could only grant worldly desires, returned to juicing aconite leaves. In a few seconds, the water in the cauldron started boiling.
“Could you please give me the juice of aconite leaves, Ginny?” Hermione asked, stretching her hand to Ginny.
Ginny transferred the juice from the mortar to a bowl, gave it to Hermione and went to wash the mortar and pestle at the temporary sink that Hermione had magically conjured in her room. She came back with the cleaned apparatus and began to chop the dahlia roots carefully, as Hermione put a fistful of beetle eyes into the boiling mixture.
Next, the chopped dahlia roots were into the cauldron and after the addition of dragonfly wings, maize seeds, powdered unicorn horn, watermelon seeds and the digestive enzyme of a pitcher plant, Hermione began to stir the potion. It required ten stirs clockwise, five anti-clockwise and an interval of two minutes before repeating the clockwise stirs. This had to be repeated seven times. When all this was done, the girls left the murky green liquid to simmer.
“And you call that the easiest desire potion to concoct?” Ginny asked, rubbing her aching arm. The girls had taken turns with the stirring.
“Yeah,” Hermione replied. “You’ll faint if I show you the way to brew the other types of desire potions. But anyway, let’s not waste time. I’ll teach you a wand movement that you have to make, in order to activate the potion before asking for your wish. We’ll make it quick, because there are only four and a half minutes left for the potion to be completely ready. If we even take a second more, everything we have done will go as waste. Come on.”
The wand movement turned out to be a wave, followed by a swish and four curves. Ginny learnt it rather quickly and stopped practising it, when Hermione started counting. “Five… four… three… two… one-”
Immediately, Ginny did the wand movement. A wave, a swish and four curves. At this, the potion bubbled over, hissing and changed into a deep red colour. Hermione gave Ginny a piece of paper on which she had written, close your eyes and imagine yourself in that hairstyle, I’ll do the spell.
Ginny closed her eyes, and saw that beautiful hairstyle on her own hair. Her waist length locks… just like those rich brown ones falling over each other stylishly like feathers…
She could rather feel Hermione sending a non-verbal spell to the cauldron from beside her and in a minute, a wonderful sensation reached her head. It was as if someone was massaging her scalp… a really calming and comforting sensation… it was bliss… paradise… she had never been so happy…
“Er- Ginny?”
The sensation died away and Ginny opened her eyes, to find a rather terrified Hermione gawking at her. “What is it, Hermione?”
“Your- your hair-” Hermione started, pointing a shaking finger at Ginny’s hair, but the latter stopped her midway.
“Isn’t it beautiful?”
“Y-Your hair is b-brown!”
“What?”
“I’m not joking, look at the mirror.”
Ginny walked looked behind at the mirror and screamed. “AAAAAAAAAARGH! What’s happened to my hair?”
She got up and went towards the mirror, to see that the cut was exactly the one she had asked for, but the colour was deep brown. Just like the model. The red hair that she was proud of, was all gone, even though the texture and length of her hair remained the same. “I imagined the wrong thing!” she said, turning around to Hermione. “We have to correct this somehow. Please, Hermione, could you help me?”
“And then brew this desire potion again, so that you can have that hairdo? I’m sorry, Ginny, but this is not done.”
“No,” Ginny said, “I don’t want that hairstyle anymore… I just want my red hair back!”
“All right,” Hermione said, “But do you promise to be sated with what you own?”
“Yes…”
“Okay, then, there is a potion to reverse the effects of this potion. Let’s collect the ingredients and get on with it before your mother comes back.”
“All right.”
The girls then began to work on the new potion, as Ginny swore to herself that she’d never be so foolish and accept whatever life gives her- whether it is good or bad.