I couldn't believe it. I wanted to move to Switzerland and never come back. I couldn’t tell who I hated more; Snape or Malfoy. It was close tie, but Malfoy would’ve had to win it for insulting Hermione in the first place.
Everyone gave me sympathetic looks when we exited the Potions room. I mean, I just stood up for Hermione and Snape gave me a detention? It was ridiculous.
“Hey Ron,” said Hermione, catching up with me, looking slightly confused and flustered, “How are we supposed to put up with Malfoy tomorrow? I still can’t believe I got a detention!”
“Hermione, this is how the rest of us live. Detentions and blowing off homework. You should get used to it,” I said.
“Ron…” she scolded.
“Seriously, you should have a little fun. I mean, homework’s great and all, if you like that kind of stuff, but you shouldn’t miss out on good experiences,” I started.
“What kind of experiences?” she asked suspiciously.
“Well, I know you would never blow off an assignment for a party or something,” I started shuffling my feet and looked at the ground, “But what if we went to Hogsmeade this weekend? You know, if you want to…” I added, sulking slightly.
“Well… Alright. But this isn’t like a date or anything is it?” she asked, avoiding my eyes.
Harry never said we couldn’t “go as friends”. I wish we could go on a real date though. Still, I’m taking Hermione to Hogsmeade!
“Err… Well if you want to go on a date”” I felt my ears redden. That habit is such a giveaway.
“No! I mean ”err” we’re just friends…Right?”
“Oh! Yeah. Yeah, we are.” I tried to smile, but I gave a wimpy grimace instead.
I think Harry was lying about her fancying me.
*
Today had definitely put a damper on my mood. First, Malfoy was making fun of me for looking at Ron, then we got detention, and now I just had to mention something about “just being friends” and Ron agreed!
Great.
I mean, what are Ron and I even going to do at Hogsmeade? Sometimes I just don’t understand him.
I turned to go into the library, hoping that some educational reading would calm me down, but this seemed to have the opposite effect.
“Hello,” said an icy voice, belonging to a Ravenclaw girl in the year above us. She had long, dark, wavy hair and piercing blue eyes. I vaguely recognized her as a sixth year Quidditch player.
“Err... Hi? Do I know you?” I asked.
She laughed. It was a cold type of merciless giggle. “Oh, you will,” she promised.
*
“Harry Potter!” I roared, storming into the Common Room, “You owe me for a very, very long time!”
Harry looked up from his conversation with Neville, Dean, and Seamus quizzically.
“What’d I do?” he asked.
“I did the dare Harry! I asked her! She just kind of agreed then scampered off…”
I didn’t bother to tell him that we weren’t going on a real date.
“Ron, she was probably nervous,” teased Seamus.
“Yeah, well you try asking out someone that you fancy! It isn’t exactly a walk in the park. Come on then, I dare you,” I said, repeating Harry’s words from yesterday.
“Fine then. I’ll do it and prove I’m a true Gryffindor. Hmm…” he said, glancing around. “Ginny!” he called, “You want to come to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?”
Harry’s teasing smile quickly melted. We whipped our heads around at Seamus. What had I done?
*
The next day, Ron and I set off for the dungeons after dinner. It was quite awkward with our Hogsmeade “date” hanging four days away.
“Did you hear what happened with Ginny?” he blurted, after a few minutes of silence.
I looked up from the book I was studying from. “No, what happened?”
“Seamus asked her to Hogsmeade.” It sounded like he was going to speak again, but he didn’t.
I laughed. “Ron, she fancies Harry. Why would she have agreed in the first place?” I realized I has just revealed Ginny’s huge crush to her overly protective brother. “Oops,” I whispered.
Ron snorted.
“What?”
“Harry fancies her, too.”
I gasped automatically, but it must’ve been quite overdramatic because it really freaked Ron out.
“Don’t do that! I’m going to start thinking that Death Eaters are bursting through the walls!”
“Sorry. It’s just… I knew something like that was going on…” I said. I mean, who hadn’t picked up on Harry’s hints?
“Right. Well, who hadn’t seen Harry’s pathetic attempt to catch her attention?” he asked, amused.
I left this unanswered, and my thoughts wandered back to the mysterious Ravenclaw girl.
***
“Thank you for finally joining us,” sneered Snape.
Ron and I glanced at the clock and saw that we were five minutes early. But Malfoy must’ve been ten, because he was already seated.
“Tonight, you will be cleaning my personal bathroom,” Snape said quietly.
I tried not to laugh as we walked to Snape’s “room” and he directed us to clean the bathroom. With no magic.
Malfoy groaned at these words. “That’s peasant work!” he complained under his breath.
We got to work, scrubbing the sink and the floor, but not even Malfoy would go near the shower.
“Who knows what he’s got bottled up in there!” exclaimed Malfoy, almost insulting his own Head of House.
“Well, it definitely isn’t shampoo…” muttered Ron, and I giggled.
The room was quiet for a while, in which I watched Ron clean. After a period of about forty or so minutes, Malfoy spoke.
“Wow, Weasley. I’m impressed. You haven’t started snogging her yet,” he jeered.
“Wow, Malfoy. I’m impressed. You haven’t stated snogging yourself yet,” retorted Ron, imitating Malfoy’s annoying tone.
Malfoy stood up and pointed his wand at Ron’s chest. “I’ll hear none of that talk from you, Weasel. Or any other blood-traitor, for that matter,” he smirked.
“Leave him alone!” I cried.
Malfoy whipped his head around. “You’re actually talking to me, Miss Mudblood?”
“You shouldn’t have said that,” Ron muttered darkly, as he reached for his wand.
“Ron, no! Don’t”” But it was too late. The damage was done. Ron’s fast-acting swelling jinx had done the trick.
“Mr. Weasley. May I ask why you and Miss Granger have been hexing Mr. Malfoy? I think you both owe me another week’s worth of detentions for your poor display of behavior. And I expect the rest of my bathroom spotless by tomorrow. Ten points from Gryffindor. You are to take Mr. Malfoy directly to the Hospital Wing. Dismissed.” He pointed towards the door.
Of course, Ron and I had landed ourselves in more detentions.
*
Malfoy is such a prat. I bet he just prances around trying to get people in detention. Yeah, I bet that’s it. But at least now he’s in the Hospital Wing with his lips swelling by the second. Maybe he really can snog himself now.
My “date” with Hermione is only three days away now. What am I going to do? I probably should’ve thought of this before I asked her. I suppose I’ll just make up something the day before. That should be okay, right?
I walked down the hall, to see a slight familiar-looking girl waiting around. She called my name, and we started talking.
*
What’s happening to me? More detentions? Something is definitely wrong here. At least Malfoy finally got what he deserved.
I walked upstairs to head off to bed, but something stopped me in my tracks. I heard Ron’s voice coming from down the hallway, and I snuck along the wall to see what was up.
He was standing in the middle of the fifth floor corridor with her. The mysterious Ravenclaw girl. She was laughing and flipping her hair. She even started touching his arm! Ron blushed, but looked pleased.
He sent a glance my way, and quickly looked away, as if he hadn‘t seen me at all. That Ravenclaw girl is going down!
I Think This Love is Altering my Brain by MadEyeMaddy
Chapter Notes: Thanks to ginnygirl16, the most amazing, helpful beta. *applause* Sorry for the long wait for this chapter.
Chapter Endnotes: Okay. I don't think anyone except other authors can understand what reviews mean to me! Review review review! I'll usually reply :D. Chapter 3 should be up soon!